Continuing its quest for the best speller in the community, the 2019 South Asian Spelling Bee (www.SouthAsianSpellingBee.com) traveled to California, Maryland, North Carolina, Washington DC and New Jersey these past two weekends. With a huge turnout this year, the Bee attracted some top talent as well as young and new spellers that competed for the coveted prizes and titles.

In Bay Area, Nidhi Vadlamudi of Santa Clara was the regional champ and Vayun Krishna of Sunnyvale, California was the first runner up.

In DC, Aryan Nindra of Leesburg Virginia along with Nilla Rajan of Chillicothe, Ohio were named co-champions.

In Charlotte, Maya Jadhav from Fitchburg, Wisconsin was the regional champ and Ekansh Rastogi of Heathrow, Florida was the first runner up.

In Dallas Pranav Nandakumar of Austin, Texas was the regional champ and Hepzibah Sujoe of Fort Worth, Texas was the first runner up.

In New Jersey, Navneeth Murali from Edison, New Jersey was the regional champ and Advitiya Jadhav of Princeton Junction, New Jersey was the first runner up.

The event is open to children of South Asian descendants 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

Organized by Touchdown Media Inc., the South Asian Spelling Bee is celebrating its 12thanniversary this year.

“For the past twelve years, the Bee has consistently provided a firm platform for the community to come together and hone their craft. It’s become a family activity that contributes towards the overall development of the child. We are proud to have concluded our twelfth consecutive year with wonderful spellers,” said Rahul Walia, founder of the South Asian Spelling Bee and CEO of Touchdown Media Inc.

Within the past year the South Asian Spelling Bee has been exhaustively featured in the documentary, "Breaking the Bee", an exclusive story on VICE News that followed the journey of South Asian Spelling Bee spellers and the importance of the South Asian Spelling Bee platform being a vital step in their spelling journey and various mainstream media platforms across the country.

The top two spellers of each regional competition advance to the finals to be held in New Jersey on August 8th and the championship prize is $3,000.

This year, the Bee is proudly powered by Kawan- the world’s most popular Roti paratha brand and as always, Sony Entertainment Television ASIA, is the exclusive broadcast partner for the South Asian Spelling Bee and will be airing the series across 120 countries.

“Kawan is proud to return as a sponsor and we have tremendous faith in contributing towards crucial family time for the community. We look forward to getting to know the spellers and their families through this wonderful journey," said Tim Tan, Managing Director Kawan Food.

“Year over year, the South Asian Spelling Bee has made for great programming that gels with our ethos of compete family entertainment. We are all about family values and encourage platforms such as these that highlight the talent of our community,” said Jaideep Janakiram, Head of Americas, Sony Pictures Networks.

For a complete schedule, registration and any other information, please visit: www.SouthAsianSpellingBee.com

Find us on Facebook at South Asian Spelling Bee and you can follow us on Instagram: @southasianspellingbee

About Sony Entertainment Television:
Sony Entertainment Television (SET), one of India's leading Hindi general entertainment television channels is a part of Sony Pictures Television (SPT) backed Sony Pictures Networks, which is India’s leading television network. Since its launch in October 1995, SET has created a unique space for itself in the Indian Television industry. Pioneering new waves in television programming, with blockbuster movie premieres, big format non-fiction shows and an impressive array of fiction shows like Dus Ka Dum, Sabse Bada Kalakar, Super Dancer, The Kapil Sharma Show, Indian Idol, Kaun Banega Crorepati, Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega, Sankat Mochan Mahabali Hanuman, Beyhadh, Kuch Rang pyre Ke Aise Bhi, Bajirao Peshwa, CID, Crime Patrol Bade Acche Lagte Hain, Bharat Ka Veer Putra Maharana Pratap and Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyar. SET is known for its innovative concepts and exciting formats and is the most preferred family entertainment channel which has been providing strong platforms for more than 700 brands to reach over 93 million households in India. In addition, Sony Entertainment Television is also available in the US, UK, Africa, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji Islands and Seychelles. In total, SET influences over 332 million viewers in the Indian sub-continent, and the South Asian Diaspora worldwide.

About Touchdown Media Inc.:
Touchdown Media Inc. is a specialized South Asian advertising and promotions firm based in New Jersey. Now in its 12th successful year, Touchdown has helped clients- both mainstream and otherwise, reach out to the lucrative South Asian market, Touchdown Media represents more than 35 years of collective experience in this niche market. As a full service ad firm, Touchdown has helped many clients achieve their media and marketing goals within the South Asian Diaspora in the US.

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