Heading into the Tampa Bay regional spelling bee in February, Amara Chepuri was seen as the leading contender.

The Manatee County sixth grader finished in the top three the year before, making it to the quarterfinals of the 2024 national bee before falling to the word ephectic. Several other local spellers were newcomers, giving Amara an edge to represent the region at the May national event.

Amara, 12, did not disappoint, outlasting all others to win on the championship word sashay. But a question about her eligibility arose during the spell-off. She never got to hold the trophy.

Four days later, the Rays Foundation, which sponsored the event, announced that runner-up Vlada Kozhevnikova, a sixth grader from Pinellas Academy of Math and Science, would go to nationals instead.

The Chepuris have been fighting the decision ever since.

Going to the national spelling bee is a big deal. Over the past 20 years, it’s drawn attention in celebrated documentaries and attracted large television audiences. Spellers spend hours every day training for the event, practicing everything from word origins to lightning round strategies.

This year, the nationals hold a special allure. It’s the 100th anniversary bee, and sponsor Scripps is going all out with activities and celebrations.

And with the past two champions — Dev Shah and Bruhat Soma — coming from the Tampa Bay region, there’s extra excitement over whether the area could have a rare three-peat. Amara’s parents saw it as a distinct possibility.

“She could have won,” said Ananth Chepuri, her father. “She’s one of the best spellers in Florida.”

To see her sidelined seemed an injustice to them. Especially the way things went down.

So they’ve consulted lawyers and made appeals to Amara’s charter school, State College of Florida Collegiate, which held her local bee. They’ve sent requests for reconsideration to the Rays Foundation and Scripps. They’ve sought intervention from the Florida Department of Education, and they’re contemplating seeking court-ordered mediation.

“My daughter has not had the due process rights she deserved,” Chepuri said, his tone more insistent than angry. “It seems like all these organizations, they don’t care about the students. They don’t want to hear the truth.”

Scripps officials see it quite differently. They said they’ve reviewed all the materials and arguments they’ve received related to the situation, and continue to arrive at the same place.

“We’ve been consistent in our communication with them,” said Corrie Loeffler, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. “Our decision stands.”

* * *

At the center of the dispute stands a single word: exhausted. Not its spelling, but its meaning.

Before the school-level contest, Amara asked her teacher, Billie Jo Williams, for clarification on the rules and the list of words spellers received to study.

“If by chance the list gets exhausted, will we have a tiebreaker?” Amara wrote. “Also, if we do have a tiebreaker what words could be given?”

The teacher responded that the school would not have a tiebreaker. But the school had an additional 150 words that competitors have not studied “if we exhaust the list,” Williams wrote in an email, which Amara’s family shared with the Tampa Bay Times.

Amara and her family took that message to mean that the school would use the entire published list before going to the next set.

But during the bee, the judges skipped some words after it became clear that the two final spellers had memorized the list. Loeffler said that’s common practice for a spelling bee.

Once off list, Amara misspelled pallbearer, while the other remaining student got equality correct to win.

The Chepuris argued that the school ignored its assurance to Amara that the primary list would be exhausted. They challenged the outcome, which to them meant the final result remained in flux.

While waiting for a hearing from the school, they also looked for other ways to keep Amara in the competition. That move compounded their situation.

* * *

Here’s where another word came into dispute: disqualified.

Spellers participating in the regional spelling bee get a copy of the rules. Under eligibility, it states that once a speller has been “disqualified at any level” of the regional bee program, he or she “may not seek advancement ... through another regional partner and/or enrollment in another school.”

The Chepuris contend that Amara never was officially disqualified from her school spelling bee because she appealed the result and did not get a hearing as the deadline to enter the regional approached. By that logic, they reasoned Amara should be able to participate in another qualifying event — something Scripps strongly disputes.

Not wanting to miss her chance, Amara turned to a homeschool cooperative, seeking to be its representative. She took the qualifying test as the speller for Infinity Academy, which assists her with some additional classes, and scored high enough to be one of the 36 on the regional stage.

“She never pretended to represent the other school,” Chepuri said. “We’ve done everything legitimately.”

A spokesperson for The State College of Florida countered that the school responded to the Chepuris’ appeal in writing on Jan. 29, nearly two weeks before the Feb. 8 regional. The answer was clear.

“My hope is that you are aware and understand that all decisions were made as a team, were based on the rulebook and the conversations with Scripps before and following the school Bee, and all under a simple premise of providing a fair environment and equal opportunity for participation for all students,” wrote Kelly Monod, associate vice president of collegiate schools.

While the school understood the family’s disappointment, State College spokesperson Jamie Smith said, Amara was not the winner and would not represent the school. In other words, she was disqualified.

“The student didn’t spell the word correctly,” Smith said in an interview. “That was the end of the process.”

But not as far as the Chepuris were concerned.

* * *

Ananth Chepuri arrived at the Lealman Exchange Community Center for the regional bee before his daughter. He came with papers to document what he viewed as the full story behind Amara’s odd route to the event, just in case.

Sitting in the stands waiting, he downplayed the idea of his daughter becoming the area’s third consecutive national winner.

“She does it for fun. It’s not like it’s a serious thing,” he said. “She just loves to spell. She loves to compete as well. Win or lose, she’s just happy to be here.”

As he watched the field dwindle, he inched closer to the stage, as if willing a win to happen. When Amara clinched the championship word, he didn’t have time to cheer. Scripps representative Tammy Riddle headed his way, alerting him all was not well.

Williams, the State College of Florida Collegiate teacher, had sent an email midway through the bee saying Amara shouldn’t have been there. It would take four days to sort things out.

While the adults discussed her eligibility, Amara talked about how much she enjoys spelling and words. She acknowledged the need to know more tricks, such as better understanding the source of different prefixes and suffixes, to do well at nationals.

She didn’t express much expectation of going all the way.

“I play tennis,” Amara said, showing the tennis charm on her necklace. “I don’t have that time to do words more than three hours a day.”

She did look forward to trying, though.

* * *

After the ruling, the Chepuris sought an in-person discussion with school officials about the initial bee, hoping Amara might be named a co-champion. They left that meeting without a change.

Chepuri argued that the teacher hadn’t presented all the facts about exhausting the word list. If she had, he said, school leaders would have reached a different decision and Scripps wouldn’t have blessed the school’s action.

Since then, seeking a resolution for his daughter has become almost a part-time job for the biomedical professional. He estimated he spends about two hours a day on spelling bee matters.

“This has been a learning process for sure,” he said via text message. “I have dealt with business negotiations and legal contracts, but nothing like this in education.”

Much of the effort has yielded only disappointment.

Soon after being denied again by the school, Chepuri sent a letter to the Rays Foundation, copied to Scripps, asking that they at least recognize Amara as the regional winner, since she did win the actual competition. Two days later, Scripps senior counsel Sadie Craig responded asking the family to “cease and desist further correspondence to the Bee, Bee employees and affiliates, and Bee regional partners.”

Nothing would change the outcome, as Amara remained ineligible, Craig wrote.

Undeterred, Chepuri responded detailing all the problems he saw in the process, writing he wanted “a fair and amicable resolution that restores confidence in the competition’s integrity.”

Soon after, he asked the Florida Department of Education to intervene. Spokesperson Sydney Booker said the department “has no authority in this matter.”

* * *

Frustrated at every turn, Chepuri said he could not believe that the adults affiliated with the bee could treat a 12-year-old this way. He said he would request mediation through circuit court, while again asking her school’s trustees to consider nullifying her disqualification.

At this point, he said, the issue isn’t even so much about his daughter going to nationals. She’s disillusioned with the bee, he said, “as any kid would be” after seeing the way her eligibility has been handled.

His goal now is to make sure Amara does not feel like a victim, using her experience to improve the system for future spellers.

Scripps should want the best spellers to compete at the national challenge, he argued, and not allow inconsistent local bee rules to affect children as they have Amara.

“It’s not right,” he said. “They’ve acted like she’s a criminal from the start. ... She doesn’t deserve something like this. We’re trying our best as parents. It’s all we can do.”

Amara said she’s glad that her parents backed her unconditionally. The bee officials, she said, made her feel unworthy, having “decided to find fault with me” without listening to the details.

“Who knows? I could have been the third person to win for Florida” in a row, she said.

She said it’s unlikely she’ll vie for the bee again. But with some friends still in the mix for this year’s title, “I’ll watch it. Maybe.”

Loeffler, the bee chief executive, called the situation “heartbreaking,” noting Amara clearly worked hard and her parents understandably want to advocate for their child.

At the end of the day, though, the spelling bee is about more than just spelling, she said. It’s also about sportsmanship, resiliency and the knowledge that preparation and luck play equal roles in the competition as in life.

“You might face a word you didn’t know, and it doesn’t end up your day,” Loeffler said. “If we were just looking for the best speller in America, we would just give one spelling test.”