Soha Ali Khan announces Pratyasha Nath as India's spelling champ of Classmate Spell Bee Season 9

Classmate, India's No.1 Notebook Brand by ITC and Radio Mirchi's spelling extravaganza Classmate Spell Bee Season 9 culminated today with an exhilarating finish as Soha Ali Khan announced Pratyasha Nath of Shri Shkishayatan School, Kolkata as the National Champion of India's largest spelling competition.

Aaman Ahmed of St. Michael's School, Siliguri was the first runner up. The theme for the contest this year 'Every child is unique and so is every word' is inspired by Classmate's brand thought of celebrating uniqueness. The competition this year was conducted across India and engaged with more than three lakh students across 1000 schools in 30 cities by testing their mettle in English spellings.

In the initial phase, an on-ground exercise in schools received massive participation. The top 15 spellers from each school then competed in the online city finals round. The top performers from the city finals then competed in the Semi Final stage of the competition. From there only the top 16 students from across India went on to battle it out in the televised National Finals.

The National Finals of Classmate Spell Bee Season nine saw a grueling competition between the top 16 spellers of India in the search for the National Spell Bee Champion. The National Finals will be simulcast on The Discovery Channel, Discovery Kids and Discovery Tamil.

Nripendranath Thakur, Head of Sales and Marketing, Education and Stationery Products Business (ESPB), ITC Ltd. said, "Classmate has always endeavored to recognize, nurture & celebrate the uniqueness of every child. Classmate Spell Bee Season 9 takes Classmate's brand thought of celebrating uniqueness further as it gives students yet another opportunity to identify and showcase their distinctive talents and skills on a nationwide platform.

Classmate Spell Bee season 9 builds on the scale we achieved last year with the aim of reaching out to an even larger number students across schools and cities in India, through a school contact program coupled with a novel mobile app and a dedicated website to engage students. The brand promises to support a child's dreams with an equally unique and world class set of stationery products like notebooks, writing, drawing, art and math instruments.

Paige Kimbley, Executive Director Scripps National Spelling Bee said, "It was a wonderful experience witnessing the finals. It was quite interesting to see the enthusiasm in the young spellers and the quality of the participation. We hope the competition goes from strength to strength in the years to come."

Sumit Aggarwal, Senior Vice President and National Head Activations, Entertainment Network (India) Limited said, "This season Spell Bee set a new benchmark for young spelling fans across India. Students participated in the competition through the year through the Spell Challenge series which gave an opportunity to enrich and educate students about the art of spellings through the year; almost like curriculum. Spell Bee started with a vision to help young Indian students spell correctly and thereby enhance their communication and literary skills. It's encouraging to see that the art of spelling correctly is growing passionately as a culture amongst these children and the property is the perfect platform to add fuel to this passion. After dedicating the last four months to engage with 3,00,000 participants, across 1000 schools from 30 cities in India we are proud to bring viewers across the country one of the best seasons of the property on television."

Abhishek Anand, Marketing Manager and ITC's ESPB team have customized

this multi layered student engagement platform to drive outreach and participation, to build on Classmate's brand thought and take it to the next level. Unlike previous seasons, this year, the Spell Bee experience was extended through the entire year by creating learning modules, tests, interactive blogs and contests for students to remain connected to the art of spellings making it possible for them to qualify for the next season as well.

The focus this year was to create a holistic educative experience for participants using a versatile mobile app and web based learning and practice solutions resident on the redesigned website enhancing the platforms salience with students.

Classmate believes in encouraging children to excel in the field of their choice and Classmate Spell Bee season 9 has served to build this thought on ground, inspiring school students to identify and showcase their spelling skills through the competition.

The National Champion of Classmate Spell Bee Season 9 will win a grand prize of Rs. 2,00,000/- apart from the opportunity to witness the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee 2017 with a parent in Washington D.C., U.S.A. in an all expenses paid trip. The four semi finalists will win a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 each. The grand prize for the winner of Classmate Spell Bee and those for the semi-finalists have been specifically designed and sponsored by Classmate to help encourage and enable students to follow their hearts true calling.

The competition this year was powered by The Times of India, Times NIE is the education partner, Discovery Kids is the television partner and Victor Tango is the event partner for the property.