CHICAGO, IL - Continuing its quest for the best speller in the community, the 2016 MetLife South Asian Spelling Bee traveled to Illinois and Washington recently with stops in Chicago and Seattle. With a huge turnout this year as well, the Bee attracted some top talent as well as young and new spellers that competed for the coveted prizes and titles. In the Chicago Regional, Jashu Paluru (11) of West Lafayette, Indiana was the regional champ,
Anmol Dash (11) of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, was the first runner up, and Tara Singh (11) of Louisville, Kentucky, was second runner up. In Seattle, Ayush Noori (13) from Issaquah, Washington was named regional champ, Tony Punnacherry (11) from Renton, Washington was first runner up, and Anshita Saini (12) of Bellevue, Washington, was the second runner-up. The event is open to children of South Asian descent up to 14 years of age. It will give South Asian children a chance to test their spelling skills in their core peer group. Interested spellers need their parent or guardian to register them online at www.southasianspellingbee.com.