The 2011 Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee took place yesterday in Washington, DC and the big winner was Sukanya Roy, pictured above, as she spelled cymotrichous to win the whole damn thing. The spelling bee always draws a lot of criticism when it comes to being aired on ESPN and covered by sports sites like this, but I challenge you to find me a more intense and dramatic competition featuring some of the most intelligent and important young people in the world. Seriously, these kids are our future, so we need them to be spelling those big words. Plus, as a former spelling bee champion (Coral Springs Middle School, two times WHAT SON!), the Scripps event holds a special place in my heart.
These kids deserve the attention and respect, too, because the words they have to spell are ridiculous. I remember when I thought “hippopotamus” was hard, and that was just last week. Thankfully, while these kids show great mental strength and bravery for competing in front of the entire world, they make some pretty ridiculous faces. Now I don’t condone making fun of children, especially when they’re doing something this impressive. I only make fun of kids when they fall down and cry, because someone needs to. Regardless, the champion spellers at Buzzfeed dug up the best of this year’s national spelling bee faces for us to enjoy. Sadly, nobody fainted.
