Two boys share top prize in US National Spelling Bee

Video caption, Watch the tense final moments of the spelling bee

The grand final of a National Spelling Bee took place in the United States on Thursday.

The spelling competition is a big annual event in the US and is broadcast on television.

This year two young spellers were declared co-champions for the first time since 1962.

Sriram from New York and Ansun from Texas were both named champions after correctly spelling 12 words in a row.

Image source, AFP

Image caption, It's only the fourth time ever there've been two winners

The boys had to spell words like "corpsbruder" (a close comrade) and "antigropelos" (waterproof leggings).

Sriram said: "The competition was against the dictionary, not against each other. I'm happy to share this trophy with him."

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, Contestants have to spell difficult words in front of a live audience

The boys win a trophy and around 拢20,000 each.