WASHINGTON (TIP): Continuing its quest for the best speller in the community, the 2018 South Asian Spelling Bee (www.SouthAsianSpellingBee.com) traveled to Illinois, California, Maryland, and North Carolina this past weekend with stops in Chicago, The Bay Area, Washington DC, and Charlotte.

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 the Chicago Regional, Snehal Choudhury (13) of Massillon, Ohio was the regional champ and Maya Jadhav (9) of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, was the first runner up.

In Bay Area, Rishik Gandhsri (12) of San Jose, California was the regional champ and Vayun Krishna (11) of Sunnyvale, California, was the first runner up.

In DC, Christopher Serrao (12) of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey was the regional champ and Srivarun Hathwar (12) of Virginia Beach, Virginia, was the first runner up.

In Charlotte, Vishal Madhudi (14) of Painted Post, New York was the regional champ and Kyu-Carlo Alegre (13) of Carrollton, Georgia, was the first runner up.

The event is open to children of South Asian descent 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 11th anniversary this year and with regionals being held in 6 locations across the United States. Regional centers for this season include Washington, D.C. Metro, Charlotte, the Bay Area, Chicago, New Jersey, and Dallas. All events will be free to attend and open to the public. An international regional in Accra, Ghana was conducted earlier this year, from where spellers of South Asian descent will qualify for the finals.

“For the past ten 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 enter our eleventh consecutive year and look forward to engaging some of these 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 “Breaking the Bee” and 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.

The top two spellers of each regional competition will advance to the finals to be held in New Jersey in August. Champion’s grand prize of $3,000 will be awarded to the winner at the finals.

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

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 our Twitter handle at Spell South Asian.

Touchdown Media Inc. is a specialized South Asian advertising and promotions firm based in New Jersey. Now in its 11th 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.