OXON HILL, Md. — A Utah speller has been reinstated into the Scripps National Spelling Bee field after successfully appealing that he was denied relevant root information about a word.
Thirteen-year-old Surya Kapu of South Jordan is one of three students from Utah who qualified for this year's Bee in the nation's capital.
READ: Utah whiz kids hope to make history at Scripps National Spelling Bee
Surya misspelled “leucovorin” during Wednesday night's last semifinal round. Surya’s family appealed, arguing that Scripps omitted details when he asked a question about the word’s roots. Scripps says in a statement its judges met for roughly two hours before reinstating Surya late Wednesday night. He will be given a new word before Thursday night's finals and if he spells it correctly, he will join the 12 finalists competing for the title.
This is not Surya's first Scripps National Spelling Bee.
He competed as a fourth grader in 2019. Now three years later, the 7th grade student at Draper's American Preparatory Academy is center stage, and just one word away from making the finals.
READ: How the Scripps National Spelling Bee came to be
You can watch the finals of the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night at 7 p.m. MST on ion Television.
This year marks the first time the event is being held in person since 2019.
R E I N S T A T E D : A speller has been reinstated into the Scripps National Spelling Bee field after successfully appealing that he was denied relevant root information about a word. https://t.co/VaTYk20Pqk
— AP Oddities (@AP_Oddities) June 2, 2022
