After a tough championship battle at the 2016 Chester County Spelling Bee, Aakash Narayan emerged victorious as the last student left standing on stage at the Chester County Intermediate Unit in Downingtown and will now go on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.

The Great Valley Middle School student beat out 55 other hopeful student who had all qualified to compete for the championship by winning the individual spelling bee competitions at their respective schools. After the 55 competitors had been through several rounds and had to spell a total of 208 different words, the entire competition came down to the correct spelling of the word ‘Dyspeptic’ which Narayan calmly recited in the correct order to take the coveted top spot.

Second place in the hotly contested competition went to Krishna Doraisamy from Sugartown Elementary School while there was a three way tie for third place with Rohan Rojy from Collegium Charter school, Esha Singh of Marsh Creek Sixth Grade Center and Jack Verhagen from Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School all sharing the prize.

In addition to the top prize of a trip for two to Washington D.C. Narayan also received the Samuel Louis Sugarman award certificate for a 2015 United States Mint Proof Set of Webster’s Third New International Dictionary and a one year subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica Online. The second place winner received a Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition, while all of the second and third place winners received a Scrabble Deluxe Game and a $25 Amazon.com gift card.