Teen Wins Spelling Bee

Tuesday February 23, 1999 12:00 AM EST

Nupur Lala, a 14-year-old Tampa, Fla., girl who never met a word she would not look up, correctly spelled "logorrhea" on Thursday to win the 72nd annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. Nupur, who last year was eliminated in the third round of the national contest, beat out 248 other spellers, ages 9 to 15, to win $10,000, encyclopedias, two airline tickets and computer software. Her winning word, "logorrhea," means pathologically excessive and often incoherent talkativeness. Nupur, who plays violin, swims and serves on the student council at her middle school, beat David Lewandowski, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Schererville, Ind.

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