Soha Ali Khan announces Malavika Deepak as India's spelling champ of Classmate Spell Bee Season 7

Company Brief

Mumbai, 22nd December 2014

Classmate, one of India’s leading notebook brands by ITC and Radio Mirchi’s spelling extravaganza Classmate Spell Bee Season 7 culminated today with an exhilarating finish as Soha Ali Khan announced Malavika Deepak of Std 9 from Kendriya Vidyalaya Ottapalam, Palakkad, Kerala as the National Champion of India’s largest spelling competition. Mukund Choudhary of Std 9 from Krishna Public School, Raipur 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 2.75 lac students across 800 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 7 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 telecast on The Discovery Channel, Discovery Kids and Discovery Tamil pan India.

Commenting on the culmination of Classmate Spell Bee Season 7, Mr. Chand Das, Chief Executive, ITC’s Education and Stationery Products Business said, "Classmate is amongst the largest brands in the stationery industry today having crossed the Rs. 1500 Cr mark, with Classmate notebooks having achieved the status of India's No. 1 notebooks brand as per a recent survey conducted by IMRB in April 2014. The brand has always endeavored to recognize, nurture & celebrate the uniqueness of every child. We believe this association of Classmate with Spell Bee, was a natural fit, which has been utilized to engage with our core audience. Classmate Spell Bee season 7 has taken Classmate’s brand thought of celebrating uniqueness further and has given students yet another opportunity to identify and showcase their distinctive talents and skills on a nationwide platform. The prizes for the winners too have been specifically designed and sponsored by Classmate to help encourage and enable students to follow their hearts true calling. 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."

Mr. Mahesh Shetty,COO, Entertainment Network (India) Limited said, “We at Radio Mirchi are proud to bring to students of India one of the most enriching intellectual properties that helps them discover themselves in an engaging and educative manner. Spell Bee started with a vision to help young Indian students spell correctly, 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 2,75,000 participants, across 800 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. ”

Mr. Abhishek Anand, Marketing Manager & Mr. Himavan Singh Dahiya, Brand Manager Classmate, comprising the Marketing Team at ITC’s ESPB 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 7 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 7 will win a grand prize of Rs. 2,00,000/- apart from the opportunity to witness the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee 2014 with a parent in Washington D.C., U.S.A. in an all expenses paid trip. The 4 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.

Air India a member of the Star Alliance is the official travel partner for Classmate Spell Bee Season 7 and will fly the National champion and a parent to witness the Scripps National Spelling Bee held at Washington D.C. in 2015.

The competition this year is presented by Classmate; powered by The Times of India and is in association with Seven Seas and Air India. Times NIE are education partners on the property. This is an initiative by Radio Mirchi.

For further information contact:

MADISON PR

Rohini Sequeira: 9819383578

Email: rohini@fort.madisonindia.com