NC teen makes it to National Spelling Bee finals in her 3rd year. Will she be the champ?

A Wake County teenager has made it to the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Ananya Rao Prassanna, 13, of Cary, is among the eight spellers who survived Wednesday’s grueling quarterfinals and semifinals by spelling challenging words such as “réclame” and “conyrine.”

She’ll vie Thursday night to become the first North Carolina speller to win the Bee since 1970. The Bee will be televised in primetime.

It’s the furthest Prassanna has advanced in her three years at the National Spelling Bee.

She tied for 49th in 2022 when she was living in Nebraska. Last year, she tied for 74th in her first year as a student at Davis Drive Middle School in Cary.

The seventh-grader locked down her spot in the finals on Wednesday by spelling “rusa,” which is a large deer from southeastern Asia.

2 from NC make semifinals

Eight North Carolina students were among the 245 spellers who earned spots at this year’s event at National Harbor, Maryland.

Aishwarya Kallakuri, 13, was the only other North Carolina speller to make it to the round of 46 semifinalists. The seventh-grader at Valor Preparatory Academy in Concord was eliminated trying to spell “comino,” a dwarf plant that is native to Egypt and Syria. She finished in a tie for 23rd.

These three North Carolina spellers made it the quarterfinals and tied for 60th place:

▪ Harini Jayakumar, 11, a sixth-grader at The Brawley School in Mooresville.

▪ Phaneendra Bulusu, 12, a sixth-grader at Harris Road Middle School in Concord.

▪ Angelo Aldoph, 14, an eighth-grader at R. Max Abbott Middle School in Fayetteville.

How to watch National Spelling Bee

The finals of the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee will be televised live beginning at 8 p.m. Thursday. You can watch it over the air, on cable, satellite or online on ION.

This story was originally published May 29, 2024, 8:39 PM.