Akshay Buddiga, 13, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, recovered enough to spell the word correctly and continued into the championship round, but he stood out from the crowd by spelling from a seated position, unlike the other competitors, who remained standing as they spelled.



Buddiga lost on the word "schwarmerei," a German term that means adulation.



He got plenty of that and a standing ovation from the hundreds of defeated spellers, their families, friends and teachers who watched the three-day competition.



The champion was David Tidmarsh, whose final winning word was "autochthonous”.



Tidmarsh, from South Bend, Indiana, also triumphed over such spelling nightmares as "sumpsimus," "sophrosyne" and "serpiginous."



That feat won Tidmarsh a $12,000 cash prize and a huge loving cup he seemed barely able to grasp after the strain of spelling. As soon as he realized he had spelled the final word correctly, he covered his face with his identifying placard and acknowledged later he was crying tears of joy.



"I was so nervous, I couldn't even begin to explain," Tidmarsh said after it was all over. "I was just hoping I got a word I had studied."



He said his favorite movie was "Spellbound," a documentary about the National Spelling Bee, an annual rite of nerves for children under the age of 16 administered by E. W. Scripps Co. and some 250 other sponsors.



Tidmarsh and Buddiga were among 265 spellers who gathered in Washington from across the United States.



Asked if the experience was as good as Hollywood could make it, Tidmarsh replied, "It's even better."