KUALA LUMPUR: It was a big win for St. Micheal’s schools of Ipoh, Perak as its students clinched the first prize for both the primary and secondary school categories of the RHB New Straits Times National Spell-It-Right Challenge (SIR) competition 2015.
Karrthik Sathiyamoorthy, 12, of SK St. Micheal 1 and Darren Leong Wei Jin, 16, from SMK St. Micheal became the primary and secondary national champions.
Karrthik took home RM10,000 and a trophy after spelling the word, “thaumaturge” of modern Latin origin, which meant a performer of miracles or magician in the final round of round five.
Leong, who came in second last year, bagged the championship by spelling “accoucheur” of French origin, meaning a male obstetrician during the fourth tiebreaker between him and Lee Shi Yun, 17, of SMK Bukit Mewah, Negri Sembilan. He walked away with RM15,000 and a trophy.
Karrthik, who participated in the competition for the third time said: “It was my father who introduced me to this competition and this is my first time making it into the finals. I would like to thank my dad for helping me.”
Leong, who had been part of SIR since 2010 said he owed his success to his parents who guided and prepared him for the competition over the past six years.
“I was 20 times more stressed out this year. And when it was all over, it was like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders. Lee was such a great competitor,” he said.
Twenty-eight state champions of SIR 2015 battled it out for the National Champion titles at the Plenary Theatre, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here, today.
For the primary school category, Jamie Aishirya Kumar, 12, of SK Sri Tebrau, Johor came in second place and received RM5,000, Ng Anna, 11, of SK Convent of the Infant Jesus (2), Malacca bagged the third prize and received RM4,000.
Arisya Ahmad Azizi, 12, from SK Seksyen 13, Selangor and Emmanuel Chong Hau, 12, of SJK Ching Hwa Likas, Sabah took home RM3,000 and RM2,000 respectively after winning the fourth and fifth prize.
In the secondary school category, Lee won the second prize with RM10,000, followed by Iskandar Ameen Suhaimi, 17, of SMK Bandar Baru Salak Selatan, Selangor in third place with RM8,000, Wong Zhu Shi, 15, of SMK Tinggi St David (M), Malacca in fourth place with RM5,000, and Aishahtul Amrah Che Razali, 17, from SMK Kubang Bemban, Kelantan at fifth place with RM3,000.
It was a proud moment for all winners when Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid presented the prizes, along with certificates and trophies for each winner.
Also gracing the ceremony, were the ministry’s secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad, New Straits Times Press (NSTP) chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, NSTP chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Azlan Abdullah, RHB Banking Group group managing director Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli, and NSTP group managing editor Datuk Abdul Jalil Hamid.
NSTP said the main objective of the spelling competition was to encourage the use of English in a fun way by fostering English proficiency among young Malaysians and promoting the use of the newspaper as an educational tool.
It also aimed to create skilled students who were ready to take on an increasingly competitive world.