Largo's National Spelling Bee champion won in final year of eligibility
Dev Shah correctly spells (schistorrhachis) during the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland on June 01, 2023. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty I
LARGO, Fla. - It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Then, 14-year-old Dev Shah was given his final word to spell at the 95th Scripps National Spelling Bee: Psammophile.
It’s "an organism that prefers or thrives in sandy soils or areas," according to Scripps. Its origin is Greek.
Shah smiled, spelled the word and the crowd erupted. The Largo teen had won the title of national champion.
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"It felt surreal," Shah said. "I don't remember that moment. It feels like a different year. I don't know how to explain it other than that."
Shah just graduated from Morgan Fitzgerald Middle School’s Center for Gifted Studies in Largo. This was his third time competing in the national bee.
He said in 2019, he placed 51st. In 2020, the Bee was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Shah came in 76th and last year, he lost the regional bee and didn’t make it to nationals.
This year was his last year of eligibility.
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"It was a combination of determination, and just, if I want to end this off, because I knew it’s my last year, it was either everything or nothing," Shah said.
He credited his coach, teachers and 6-10 hours of practice a day in the three to five months leading up to the Bee with helping him win.
Leah Donnelly, the assistant principal over at the Center for Gifted Studies at Morgan Fitzgerald Middle School, said she and the school’s other teachers and administrators saw Shah’s confidence through the screen.
"We've been saying he's going to win it," Donnelly said. "We've known he's going to win, but watching him with that last word and seeing that little smile when he heard the word, I knew he knew it. And right after that, once he finally spelled it, it was just like I could take a breath, but then it was just I had goosebumps."
"Emails are being sent. Text messages are being sent from everybody. Just, ‘hey. He made it. Oh, this was his last word.’ … So it was just excitement for us as a school, and we couldn't be more proud of him representing Morgan Fitzgerald, but also our district, but him doing what he set out to do a long time ago and accomplishing that," Donnelly said.
Dev Shah, 14 of Largo, Florida, spells the winning word (psammophile) and becomes the winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland on June 01, 2023. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/
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Donnelly admitted she herself wasn’t 100% sure how to spell the winning word.
"They said the word and I instantly at home I looked at my husband and I was like, ‘I can make assumptions based on my knowledge of how to spell that word,’ but even I was like, ‘oh, my goodness,’" Donnelly said.
She said Shah called the school’s principal a few years ago and asked if they could start a school-wide spelling bee, knowing that was the first step on the road to the big stage that he stood on Thursday night. He won all three years he was at the school.
"He has definitely started something that we will not be able to let go. It's something I feel like even more kids are now going to be like, ‘oh, this is something I want to do because of the spotlight that it [Shah winning] gives on to it.’ So, because of him, it's something that isn't going to go away," she said.
She said she hopes Shah comes back to judge some of their future spelling bees, something he said he’s onboard with.
"I know I'm retiring from the bee, but I will for sure be involved with the spelling bee forever. I don't know about forever, but for a very long time," Shah said.
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For now, though, it’s time to rest.
"My main stressors were the spelling bee and school, and now that both of those are over, it's time to just relax and take a break," Shah said.
His school is planning a celebration for him set for next week. He also won a $50,000 prize, which he said he’s going to put towards college. Shah has already gotten a tour of the White House, and will ring the closing bell at Nasdaq Monday afternoon.
He plans to attend Largo High School’s International Baccalaureate program next fall.
Napur Lala from Tampa was the last person from Florida to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1999.