Floridian 14-year-old lands ‘psammophile’ to take home spelling bee prize

Dev Shah, whose hobbies include playing the cello and solving maths problems, wins $50,000

Dev Shah, a 14-year-old boy from Largo, Florida, has won the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee, nailing the word “psammophile” – meaning an organism that thrives in sandy soils, in the 15th round of the contest’s finals.

On Thursday, he edged out fellow eighth-grader Charlotte Walsh, 14, from Arlington, Virginia, who finished in second-place after she misspelled “daviely” – a Scottish-rooted word for listlessly, in the 14th round.