Sriram soon became obsessed with words - playing Scrabble, constructing his own crossword puzzles and constantly asking his parents how to spell things he saw around him.

Sriram loves to spell, but he likes other things, too: baseball, piano and geography. "Maybe next time I'll try a geography bee," said Sriram.

He was excited when he was once asked to spell "schuss" at a previous bee because of his other hobby: downhill skiing. "It means skiing in German," he clarified, adjusting his blue speller's ribbon pinned to his shirt.

As for other young spellers hoping to follow his lead, Sriram has some advice. "Don't be nervous and it's okay if you get a word wrong," he said. "Just keep trying."