The North South Foundation of Burr Ridge, Illinois conducted the championship finals of its 10th educational contests on August 3rd, 2002 at the Wong Auditorium of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus with the co-sponsorship of AID Boston chapter. The National contest categories consisted of Junior and Senior Spelling Bees for children below 9 and 12 years and the Vocabulary (word meaning) Contest for children below 16 years of age. The Junior Spelling Bee is a contest category successfully introduced this year. One hundred and sixty five regional contest winners from across the US participated in the overall event.

Krishna Chandra and Suhas Rao from Massachusetts tied for the third place in the Senior Spelling Bee. Aditya Nagaraja, a 7-year old from Towaco, New Jersey, Sai Gunturi, a 12-year old from Plano, Texas, Anand Oza, a 15-year old from Fremont, California and Tabby Khan, a 15-year old from Atlanta, Georgia won the Junior Spelling, Senior Spelling, Vocabulary and Brain Bee national championships, respectively. Snehashish Sridhar from Phoenix, Arizona, and Priya Krishnan from Potomac, Maryland, claimed the 2nd and 3rd places in the Junior Spelling Bee, respectively. Raghav Srinivasan of Cranbury, New Jersey claimed the second place. Anjay Ajodha, a 7-year old from Pearland, Texas was adjudged as the best young speller in the Senior Spelling Bee category. Ramya Varma from Holmdel, New Jersey and Mangala Iyengar from Irvine, California claimed the second and third places in the Vocabulary contest. Swetha Suresh from Westlake, Ohio won the second place in the Brain Bee.

The Foundation’s team of scholars who conducted the contests consisted of the following: Ramya Tadipatri, a three- time Scripps Howard Finalist Nivedita Gunturi, a 2nd place NSF Spelling Bee National winner and 1999 NSF Vocabulary Champion. Prasanna Tadipatri, a Brown University Junior and two-time Scripps Howard Finalist. Kesava Tadipatri, a well-known NSF regional spelling bee judge in Connecticut Anita Gavini, an University of Illinois graduate currently with Ford Motor Company in Detroit. She had several years of experience in helping the Foundation with its regional spelling bees. Barnali Dasverma, a Stanford University senior and a 4th place NSF Vocabulary National Winner. Dr. Kaarkuzhali Babu Kirishnamurthy, M.D. Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School. Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Francis M. Dyro, M. D. a Professor of Neurology at NY Medical college and attending neurologist at Westchester Medical center. Dr. Murali Gavini, Ph.D. currently with the U. S. Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland.

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