The final round, 2008
The 2008 national bee was decided in Washington on 31 May. The wire report carried by Yahoo News led on the champion: an Indiana boy had spelled 'guerdon' - a reward or recompense - to win the national bee. That was Sameer Mishra. CBS News ran the same result under the same framing.
Sidharth Chand, 13, was the speller he beat. Chand was eliminated in the final round on 'prosopopoeia'. The research record behind this page notes that the form he gave was 'prosopopoea', missing the second 'i' in a word of twelve letters drawn from Greek.
What 'prosopopoeia' asks of a speller
A speller at the microphone may ask for the language of origin, the part of speech, the definition and alternate pronunciations. From those clues the word has to be rebuilt letter by letter, out loud, on a first and only attempt. 'Prosopopoeia' is a Greek compound whose ending is the trap: the 'oeia' sequence has no reliable English analogue.
Getting eleven of its twelve letters right in the final round of a national competition, at thirteen, is not a failure of preparation. It is the ordinary way the bee ends for everyone except one child each year.
How the bee works
The Scripps National Spelling Bee gathers regional champions from across the United States and eliminates them one misspelling at a time until a single speller remains. There is no cumulative score, no margin and no appeal on a genuine misspelling. Two spellers who have both been perfect for a day are separated by whichever of them hears the harder word.
That is why the gap between first and second at the bee is so much narrower than the difference in how they are remembered. The champion's name goes into the headline; the runner-up's appears in the fifth paragraph.
A thin public record
The two reports used for this page are both wire-derived accounts of the night, and both are built around the winner. The research record describes coverage of Chand as thin, which matches what is in the file: his age, his placing and his word.
That thinness is worth stating plainly rather than papering over. A great deal of what circulates online about spelling-bee runners-up is reconstruction. This page confines itself to the two contemporary reports and says where they stop.
What is documented and what is not
Documented: his runner-up finish at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee, his age of 13, his elimination in the final round on 'prosopopoeia', and the champion Sameer Mishra with his winning word 'guerdon'.
Not documented in these sources: his date of birth, his home town, his school, his family, whether he competed in earlier or later bees, and anything about his life after May 2008. The exact misspelling he gave comes from the research record rather than from either cited dispatch. No IQ figure appears anywhere in this file.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sophia Hoffman | United States | The 2014 Jackson County marathon spelling bee | Age 9 |
| Akshay Buddiga | United States | Fainting and recovering at the 2004 National Spelling Bee | Age 11 |
| Sidharth Chand | United States | Runner-up at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee | Age 13 |
| Kush Sharma | United States | Winning the 2014 Jackson County marathon spelling bee | Age 13 |
| Finola Hackett | Canada | Runner-up at the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee | Age 14 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Runner-up at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee, 31 May 2008
- Aged 13 at the time
- Eliminated in the final round on 'prosopopoeia'
- Sameer Mishra won the bee on 'guerdon'
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- His home town, school and date of birth are not named in these sources
- The exact misspelling he gave comes from the research record, not the cited dispatches
- Nothing here documents any other bee appearance or his life after 2008
Questions people ask about Sidharth Chand
What is Sidharth Chand known for?
Finishing runner-up at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13, eliminated in the final round on 'prosopopoeia'.
How old is Sidharth Chand?
He was reported as 13 in May 2008, which places his birth year around 1995. No date of birth appears in these sources.
What does 'prosopopoeia' mean?
A rhetorical figure in which an absent or imaginary person is represented as speaking. It was the word that ended his run in the final round.
Who won the 2008 spelling bee?
Sameer Mishra of Indiana, on the word 'guerdon', meaning a reward or recompense.
Where is Sidharth Chand from?
The two reports used here do not name his home town or school, and this page does not guess.
Where is Sidharth Chand now?
Nothing in the sources used here documents his life after May 2008.
Is Sidharth Chand on Wikipedia?
No standalone English Wikipedia article for him is recorded here.
What is Sidharth Chand's IQ?
No IQ figure for him appears in any source used for this page.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Sidharth’s story?
Which word eliminated Sidharth Chand in the 2008 final round?
Where did he finish?
Who won the 2008 National Spelling Bee?
Sources
- Indiana boy spells 'guerdon' to win national bee — Yahoo News (AP), 2008-05-31
- Indiana Boy Wins National Spelling Bee — CBS News
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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