Scripps National Spelling Bee guide: How to watch, who the notable spellers are, rules and prizes

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This article was published 25/05/2025 (205 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — The best young spellers in the English language are competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

The first bee was held in 1925, when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington. The bee is now held just outside the nation’s capital, at a convention center on the banks of the Potomac River. It started Tuesday and concludes Thursday night.

This is the 97th bee; it was canceled from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II and again in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s champion will be the 110th, because the bee ended in a two-way tie several times and an eight-way tie in 2019.

Indian Americans have dominated the competition for a quarter-century. Since 1999, 29 of 35 winners have been Indian American, including seven of the eight co-champs in 2019.

How can I watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

The bee is broadcast and streamed on channels and platforms owned by Scripps, a Cincinnati-based media company.

— Thursday, May 29: Finals broadcast on ION from 8-10 p.m.

Who is competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

The bee features 243 spellers, with at least one from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia; as well as spellers from U.S. territories Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands; and from Canada, the Bahamas, Germany, Ghana, Kuwait and Nigeria.

Sixty spellers were eliminated in Tuesday’s preliminary spelling and vocabulary rounds, leaving 183 to take a written spelling and vocabulary test ahead of Wednesday’s quarterfinals. An additional 84 were eliminated by the test, leaving 99 quarterfinalists on the stage Wednesday morning. Three quarterfinal rounds narrowed the field to 57 semifinalists, and nine spellers made the finals after four semifinal rounds.

Faizan Zaki, last year’s runner-up, is back in the finals after losing to Bruhat Soma in a lightning-round tiebreaker known as a “spell-off.” The 13-year-old seventh-grader from Allen, Texas, was the only speller to get a perfect score on the written test.

If Faizan falls short again, he would have one more year of eligibility. He has won several online bees that top spellers compete in as preparation, including the Words of Wisdom Spelling Bee and the South Asian Spelling Bee.

The other finalists:

— Aishwarya Kallakuri, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Concord, North Carolina, and winner of the SpellPundit National Spelling Bee.

— Harini Murali, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Edison, New Jersey, a finalist last year and the younger sister of Navneeth Murali, who would have been a top contender in the 2020 bee had it not been canceled because of COVID-19.

— Esha Marupudi, a 13-year-old seventh-grader from Chandler, Arizona, who is competing at the bee for the first time.

— Oliver Halkett, a 13-year-old seventh-grader from Los Angeles and a two-time bee participant.

— Sarvadnya Kadam, a three-time speller and a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Visalia, California.

— Sarv Dharavane, an 11-year-old from Dunwoody, Georgia, who made the semifinals last year as a fourth-grader.

— Brian Liu, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Great Neck, New York, who was a semifinalist two years ago but didn’t make it to the bee in 2024.

— Akshaj Somisetty, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and a two-time speller who leaped from quarterfinalist to finalist.

What are the rules of the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

Spellers qualify by advancing through regional bees hosted by sponsors around the country. To compete, spellers must not have advanced beyond the eighth grade or be older than 15.

Spellers must get through two preliminary rounds, quizzing them on words from a list provided in advance: one spelling round and one multiple-choice vocabulary round.

Those who make it through the preliminaries sit for a written spelling and vocabulary test, with the top 100 or so finishers advancing to the quarterfinals. The words for the test, and for all subsequent rounds, are taken from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary.

Throughout the quarterfinals and semifinals, spellers are eliminated at the microphone through oral spelling or vocabulary questions.

When only two spellers remain, Scripps has the option to use a lightning-round tiebreaker known as a “spell-off” to determine the champion. However, Scripps has taken away the requirement that the spell-off begin at a specific time, giving bee judges more discretion to let the competition play out.

What are the prizes for the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion?

The winner receives a custom trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Here are the prize payouts:

— First place: $52,500 in cash, reference works from Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, and a $1,000 contribution to a school of the champion’s choice.

— Second place: $25,000.

— Third place: $15,000.

— Fourth place: $10,000.

— Fifth place: $5,000.

— Sixth place: $2,500.

— All other finalists: $2,000.

Stories of note

— National Spelling Bee runners-up rarely go on to win. But Faizan Zaki hopes to defy the odds

— To win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, contenders must also master geography

— National Spelling Bee winners reflect on how it changed their lives

— Scripps National Spelling Bee tweaks its rules to make ‘spell-off’ tiebreaker less likely

— National Spelling Bee reflects the economic success and cultural impact of immigrants from India

— Exclusive secrets of the National Spelling Bee: Picking the words to identify a champion

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Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow his work here.