Year 6 student Afeef Ahmed wins Sydney spelling bee final after beating about 200,000 competitors

Afeef Ahmed, a Year 6 student, has won the state final of the Premier's Spelling Bee, held on Friday afternoon at a small theatre hall in Sydney's west. Thirty-four primary school students sat on the stage for the final.

The 34 finalists had come through about 200,000 students who competed in spelling bees across 1,070 public schools in New South Wales. They earned their places at the state competition by winning online regional finals in August, and they represent the top 0.03 percent.

Five of the finalists were competing at this stage for a third time. Among them were Year 5 student Wafiq Ayyash from the Hunter region, who won the junior state title in 2024, and Year 6 student Bobby Ivaneza from the inner west, who was runner-up the same year. Ewan Mattick from the central west, Caleb Borg from the Riverina and Alesha Kahfandi from the Hunter have also reached the state finals three times.

Under the format, contestants begin with 'seen' words they have been able to practise at home, before facing 'unseen' words. Each round is sudden death. The host was ABC presenter Rae Johnston.

Of the finalists, 23 speak a language other than English at home and 18 had travelled from outside Sydney. Seven went out in the first round on words such as 'tourmaline' and 'malapropism'. Another seven were eliminated in round two, on words including 'lepidopterist'.

In the next four rounds, 13 more students fell. In that phase Mattick spelled 'centurion' correctly and gave a thumbs up to his family. Then 'pernicious' and 'sagacious' brought two more students down, leaving five: Afeef Ahmed, Ivaneza, Kahfandi, Caroline Wang and Maximilian Lumley, all in Year 6.

In round eight all five spelled their words correctly, although Ivaneza restarted on 'whimsical'. In round nine, asked to spell 'unserviceable', Ivaneza omitted the second 'e' and was eliminated. Visibly devastated, he slumped into his seat with his head in his hands and later returned tearfully to his family in the crowd, where his father embraced him.

Ahmed then correctly spelled 'immemorial', after which the remaining three competitors all fell. Kahfandi missed 'antepenultimate', Wang was tied up by 'parmigiana' and Lumley was one letter off 'genealogy'. That confirmed Ahmed as the winner.

A play-off was needed for runner-up. Wang went out straight away on 'grandiloquent'. Kahfandi and Lumley then stayed in lockstep for five rounds, either both correct or both wrong. Finally Kahfandi missed 'vociferous' and Lumley, after a deep breath, correctly spelled 'apocalypse' to take second place.

Lumley's grandmother Sue said the contest was very stressful and that he looked calm. She said he had worked very hard, that some of the words were ones she did not even know, and that the family was very proud. Kahfandi, who finished third, said there was a lot of pressure in the room; she was a bit disappointed not to get second and was tired after so many rounds, but third place was also a very good result.

Ahmed said that at first he did not realise he had won, but felt happy when the winner was announced, and that the runners-up's words were harder than the ones he got. His mother said she had helped him train for months, half an hour every night before bed. She said he reads a lot and was a three-time champion at school.