Gokul Venkatachalam And Vanya Shivashankar Win 2015 National Spelling Bee After Final Word 'Nunatak:' Meet The Co-champions

2015-05-29T022118Z_2014579125_GF10000110865_RTRMADP_3_USA-SPELLINGBEE — Vanya Shivashankar, of Olathe, Kansas, and Gokul Venkatachalam, of St. Louis, lift the trophy after becoming co-champions in the final round of the 88th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee at National Harbor, Maryland, on Thursday night. Reuters

Gokul Venkatachalam and Vanya Shivashankar won the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee Friday, causing the competition to declare co-champions for the second year in a row.

To make them co-champions, 14-year-old Missourian Gokul had to spell "nunatak," meaning "a hill or mountain completely surrounded by glacial ice." The last word for Vanya, a 13-year-old from Kansas, was "scherenschnitte."

They both win a Scripps trophy and $35,000 cash, as well as a $2,500 savings bond and a set of reference books from Encyclopaedia Brittanica and Merriam-Webster. Runner-up contestants get prizes ranging from $12,500 to $1,500, according to the contest's website.

The final two were both repeat competitors with ties to the spelling bee. Vanya's sister, Kavya, won the contest in 2009, and she herself competed in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Gokul participated in 2012, 2013 and 2014, when he came in third place.

"This is a dream come true," Vanya said on TV. "I've wanted this for such a long time."

Earlier in the night, Gokul correctly spelled "epicede," "bordereau," "cocozelle," "población," "Canossa," "zygoneure," "caudillismo," "scytale," "cypsiline," "filicite," "sprachgefühl," "nixtamal," "paroemiology," "pipsissewa" and "pyrrhuloxia." Vanya aced "consommé," "mediobrome," "cytopoiesis," "backfisch," "bayadere," "cibarial," "bouquetière," "thamakau," "tantième," "urgrund," "myrmotherine," "zimocca," "hippocrepiform," "scacchite" and "Bruxellois."

They were joined by 14-year-old Cole Shafer-Ray, an eighth grader from Norman, Oklahoma, for the final round. Cole found himself stumped by the word "acritarch," which he spelled "acrotarch."

In 2014, co-champions won the bee: Sriram Hathwar, was then a New York eighth-grader, and Ansun Sujoe, was then a Texas seventh-grader. Their final words were "stichomythia" and "feuilleton," respectively. Co-champions also won in 1962, 1957 and 1950.

The 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee started with 285 contestants between the ages of 9 and 15.