Eighteen young word nerds survived the semifinals at the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, each nailing two words onstage in a pressure cooker of a convention center ballroom.
But only 11 of the 18 advanced to the finals in the first year of the bee's new format, in which results of computer-based tests were used to rank the survivors rather than an old-fashioned oral spell-off.
There was no elimination bell for the other seven — they just didn't hear their names called at the end of the semifinals.
"It's a little bit disappointing," said Neha Seshadri, a 12-year-old semifinalist from Imlay City, Mich., who spelled two words correctly — but whose test scores from earlier in the week were lower than those of the finalists.
"It's kind of heartbreaking to see for those kids," said Kavya Shivashankar, the 2009 national champion. But all was not sad: Her little sister, Vanya, is one of this year's finalists.
Now comes the World Series of Words. The championship round will be broadcast live on ESPN on Thursday night beginning at 8. The spell-off will continue until a champion is declared.
The winner receives $30,000 in cash, a $2,500 savings bond and reference books from Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica. The runner-up will be paid $12,500.
One of the favorites was 13-year-old Arvind Mahanakali of Bayside Hills, N.Y., who finished third in each of the past two years. His father, Srinivas, applauded the new scoring system.
"The tests are kind of an equalizer," he said. "There's no more 'killer round' that leads to a bunch of eliminations in the semifinals. The test gives the better spellers an advantage. I think the changes are for the better."
The tests included spelling and, in another new twist, multiple-choice vocabulary questions. Easy work for his son, Mahanakali said. "He got a perfect score on his preliminary test."
The day began with Christopher O'Connor at the microphone. "You ready?" bespectacled pronouncer Jacques Bailly asked. "Maybe," the Tucson 13-year-old said.
He was not, as it turned out: With the two-minute word clock winding down, O'Connor incorrectly spelled "pultaceous," which means having the consistency of porridge. He spelled it "pultatious" and the elimination bell rang out — and the tension on the ballroom stage ratcheted up.
With the champion's gold trophy on a stage-left pedestal, spellers wrote out words on their hands, sleeves and name cards. They asked Bailly for definitions, languages of origin, alternative pronunciations and other lifelines.
"Cabotinage," Bailly said.
"Can I maybe have another word?" Eva Kitlen said.
She could not. The 14-year-old eighth-grader from Niwot, Colo., misspelled the word and was eliminated.
"Please give me something I know," Amber Born said.
"Malacophilous," Bailly said.
The audience snickered.
Born, a fourth-time National Spelling Bee contestant from Marblehead, Mass., was clearly displeased with the word, which means pollinating by snails. Then, she nailed it and exulted. She was one of the final 11.
Other young spellers were tripped up by "amimia," "laureation," "morosoph," "diplodocus" and even more words that look like typos.
Shayley Martin, a seventh-grader from Virginia's Montgomery County, was eliminated near the end of the first semifinal round when she stumbled over "sussultatory."
More than 11 million students participated in the competition; just 281 made it to the national championship, which is actually an international competition. The competitors at the National Harbor included spellers from eight countries, including China, South Korea, Ghana, Jamaica and Canada.
