Soha Ali Khan announced Ms. Shrivalli Ghosh from St. Michael School, Siliguri the national champion of Classmate Spell Bee Season 12

• Classmate Spell Bee Season 12 - A national spell bee competition held across 30 cities with over 3,50,000 participants organised by Radio Mirchi and Classmate, an ITC brand

Chennai, June 2020: The Classmate Spell Bee Season 12, India's largest spelling competition, an initiative by Radio Mirchi, culminated on 23^rd June, Tuesday at a thrilling finale where the winners were announced and feted by none other than Bollywood star Soha Ali Khan!  Shrivalli Ghosh of St. Michael School, Siliguri was declared the National Champion while Bhadra Panicker of Delhi Public School, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, was the first runner up.

(L to R) Soha Ali Khan and Ms. Shrivalli Ghosh

The theme for the competition was 'Be Better than Yourself' which is in line with Classmate's philosophy of encouraging children to excel in the field of their choice by striving to continuously improve by competing with themselves and not with others and to be better than themselves.

This year, the competition engaged with more than 3.5 lakh students across 1,000 schools in 30 cities. The competition was conducted in various phases comprising on-ground, online and a final televised phase. The top 15 spellers from each school competed for a place in the city finals and then further onto the national finals.

The top 16 students from across India battled it out in the televised National Finals, which was simulcast this year on Nick, Nick HD and Sonic. The National Champion of Classmate Spell Bee Season 12 won a grand prize of Rs 2,00,000, apart from an all-expenses-paid trip to witness the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee with a parent in Washington D.C., USA. The four semi-finalists won a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each.

"With each passing year, Spell Bee is connecting more integrally with students, parents, and teachers. Having started off as a spelling competition, it is today a landmark event that propagates the learning of the English language at the highest levels," said Yatish Mehrishi, COO, Radio Mirchi.

"With this property, we aim to bring together some of the brightest children from across the country. What makes this competition truly special is the pride that participants take in being a part of this and making it what it has become today," further said Yatish Mehrishi.

"Classmate has always endeavoured to recognize, nurture & celebrate the uniqueness of every child. Classmate Spell Bee Season 12 has taken Classmate's brand thought of celebrating uniqueness further as it gave students yet another opportunity to identify and showcase their distinctive talents and skills on a nationwide platform" - Mr.Vikas Gupta, Education, Stationery Products Business (ESPB), ITC Ltd.

"Classmate Spell Bee season 12 has built on the scale we achieved last year with the aim of reaching out to even larger number of students across schools and cities in India, through a school contact program coupled with a dedicated website to engage students. The brand promises to support a child's dreams with an equally unique & world class set of stationery products like notebooks, writing, drawing, art, and math instruments," added Mr. Gupta

Season 12 saw Classmate Spell Bee actively engaged with the students through a dedicated website with a comprehensive set of learning modules, tests, interactive blogs and contests to help the students prepare for the event.

The grand prize for the winner of Classmate Spell Bee and those for the semi-finalists was specifically designed and sponsored by Classmate to help encourage and enable students to follow their hearts true calling.

The competition this year was presented by Classmate, co powered by Nickelodeon Sonic and The Times of India, and Victor Tango as the event partner for the property.

About Classmate, Education & Stationery Products Business, ITC Limited:

Classmate started in 2003, and within four years of launch, Classmate became the largest Student Stationery brand in the country and continues to be the largest 12 years on. Classmate offers a range of products in the Education & Stationery space to the quality seeking discerning consumer, providing unrivalled value in terms of product construction & price.

Classmate has become a natural extension of consumers. Meticulous understanding of consumer needs helped create a relevant and comprehensive portfolio of stationery products created to the highest exacting standards of performance and safety satisfying the needs of different consumer sets.

Classmate’s portfolio today comprises of offerings spanning across notebooks, Pens (Ball, Gel, Roller and Fountain Pens), mechanical pencils, Mathematical Drawing Instruments, Erasers, Sharpeners and Art Stationery (Wax crayons, color Pencils, Sketch Pens and Oil Pastels)

About Radio Mirchi:

Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL), popularly known as Radio Mirchi, owns 73 frequencies and is advertising partner for another 3, across 63 cities in India, making it India’s largest private FM radio broadcaster. Launched in 2001, Mirchi now operates across the country with 4 distinct brands - Mirchi, Mirchi Love, Kool & Ishq (for which it is the advertising partner of TV today network). With the highest radio listenership in India (approximately 38 million people) and a track record of developing innovative content, Mirchi has been expanding and retaining its audiences and advertisers through the years.

Mirchi has consistently delighted listeners and the industry with exciting properties such as Mirchi Music Awards (in 8 languages), Mirchi Cover Star & Mirchi Top 20. It is also the biggest concert player in India and organizes almost 100 concerts every year. It has gained a strong position in the digital space too. 22 online radio stations, the biggest radio website & being the biggest on Facebook, Twitter & YouTube are a few accolated under its belt. Mirchi also leverages talent to produce Original Content shows which are put on its YouTube channels and various OTT platforms. It reaches 50-60 million people through its online content every month. Mirchi was also the first Indian radio brand to go international with the launch of the brand in the UAE. It then launched in Bahrain in March 2018. On 26th January 2019, it launched in the US. The first brand to start ‘airport radio’ operations, Mirchi can be heard at T3 international airport, New Delhi and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad. With such a wide presence, on-air, on-ground & on digital; way beyond FM radio the Mirchi brand truly has unlimited potential!

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