LITTLE ROCK — Karthik Dalai of Sebastian County is the winner of the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas sponsored 2026 Arkansas State Spelling Bee. The 11-year-old East Hills Middle School student is the son of Venkata Dalai and Phani Kampella of Fort Smith.
Dalai, who placed fourth in last year’s bee, won among a field of 56 students from across Arkansas that had won their respective county spelling bees. The state event was held at the Arkansas 4-H Vines Center in Little Rock.
The runner-up for the state contest was Viktoria Caril of Pulaski County. Placing third was Daksh Singh of White County and Michael Jones of Baxter County, while fourth place went to Arav Ashish of Benton County and Kaylee Tran of Craighead County. Carter Metcalf of Marion County, Warren Reynolds of Union County and Joshua Oh of Lonoke County placed fifth…