Letter perfect: Postlethwait 8th-grader takes top prize at Delaware State Spelling Bee

By Craig Anderson
Posted 3/6/21

WILMINGTON — Sage Sawhney took the stage with no expectations of winning the top trophy, but left as the 2021 Delaware State Spelling Bee champion Saturday at St. Mark’s High.

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Letter perfect: Postlethwait 8th-grader takes top prize at Delaware State Spelling Bee

Posted

WILMINGTON — Sage Sawhney took the stage with no expectations of winning the top trophy, but left as the 2021 Delaware State Spelling Bee champion Saturday at St. Mark’s High.

The 13-year-old Postlethwait Middle School eighth-grader correctly spelled “ogival” to take the title in the 14th round, finally besting a field of 23 competitors from throughout the state.

“It feels really amazing, I never thought this would happen,” Sage said. “It’s really amazing.”

While Sage appeared to generally breeze through the list of words he had to spell as presented by longtime pronouncer Dave Skocik, he said “I was really nervous at the end.”

On his way to victory, Sage spelled “axle,” “jubilant,” “nuance,” “smellfungus,” and “Podunk” in the ninth through 13th rounds as the suspense built.

To win the bee, Sage said the toughest part was “The hours of hard work I put in. It was loads of hours, I really don’t know how many.”

Sage earned a $25,000 scholarship to be awarded over four years if he opts to attend St. Mark’s High and is eligible to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee to be held on July 8 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. The event will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

Sage also earned prizes including:

• The Samuel Louis Sugarman Award, a 2021 United States Mint Proof Set provided by Jay Sugarman, chairman and CEO of iStar Financial, in honor of his father. Sage will receive the prize in the summer.

• A one-year subscription to Britannica Online Premium, the premier online resource from Encyclopædia Britannica.

• A one-year subscription to Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online, the official word source for all levels of competition for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

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