New Delhi/Patna: Adya Singh of St Stephen’s College, New Delhi, emerged as the National Champion in NICE Round-C of the National Inter-College Crossword Expedition (NICE) 2026, according to the results announced by the organisers.
Nikilesh Gudalur of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras secured second place, while Arnav V Raju of IIT Delhi finished third.
The national results were:
- Adya Singh — St Stephen’s College, New Delhi
- Nikilesh Gudalur — IIT Madras
- Arnav V Raju — IIT Delhi
Five Zonal Champions
The competition also recognised winners across five zones.
Tisha Taneja of IIT Madras won the South Zone, while Aadit Prakash Bhagade of IIT Delhi topped the North Zone.
Gowtham Krishna Katakam of IIT Guwahati emerged as the North-East Zone winner. MD Dilshad Akhter of Saharsa College of Engineering won the East Zone, while Anju Sengar of Government College, Joura, Morena, secured the West Zone title.
Winners From 14 States
The state-level leaderboard featured winners from 14 states, highlighting the participation of institutions from different parts of the country.
The winners were:
- Assam: Shrawon Dey — IIT Guwahati
- Tamil Nadu: Ashish C T — IIT Madras
- Delhi: Divyam Jain — IIT Delhi
- Karnataka: Vaibhav Shekhar — National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
- Bihar: MD Rijvan — Saharsa College of Engineering
- Telangana: Bodala Jonathan Joy — Apollo College of Nursing, Hyderabad
- Haryana: Aditya Sharma — Krea University
- Uttar Pradesh: Kanishk Sharma — IIT Kanpur
- Himachal Pradesh: Rahul Thakur — Institute of Hotel Management, Hamirpur
- Manipur: Om Kumar Jha — National Institute of Technology Manipur
- Madhya Pradesh: Manju Sengar — Government College, Joura, Morena
- Gujarat: Meet Nareshbhai Makvana — Dr S. & S. S. Ghandhy Government Engineering College, Surat
- Uttarakhand: Sidhra Naaz — Kumaun University, Nainital
- West Bengal: Tanishka Bhowal — Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
NICE 2026 Organisers
NICE 2026 is being organised by Extra-C in association with the Crossword Federation of India (CWFI).
The Bihar Foundation is the title sponsor, while Central Bank of India is supporting the event.
The organisers said the Round-C results reflected the growing participation of college students in competitive crossword solving, with students from IITs, universities, government institutions and professional colleges featuring among the winners.
They congratulated the national, zonal and state winners, as well as participants in NICE Round-C, for their contribution to the competition.
