Watch 13-year-old Faizan Zaki win the US National Spelling Bee
Thirteen-year-old Faizan Zaki from Texas won the 97th Scripps National Spelling Bee in the 21st round of the finals.
Nine kids are heading to the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals.
They are: Oliver Halkett from Los Angeles, California; Zwe Spacetime from Washington, DC.; Kushi Gottimukkala from Charlotte, North Carolina; Avishka Dudala from Dallas, Texas; Aiden Meng from Danville, California; Shrey Parikh from San Bernardino, California; Sarv Dharavane from Tucker, Georgia; Ishaan Gupta from Jersey City, New Jersey and Logan Bailey from Houston, Texas.
Only one of them will emerge as the winner, taking home The Scripps Cup, a commemorative medal and $52,500 in cash.
Finalists advanced through three rounds
The live semifinals opened with 54 spellers who advanced from the quarterfinals and preliminary rounds. The auditorium was filled with parents, friends, coaches and fans cheering them on.
The semifinals included two spelling parts and one vocabulary part. The vocabulary round, which involves answering multiple-choice questions, was introduced in 2021 to help spellers understand word meanings rather than simply memorizing spelling.
Spellers are given 90 seconds to spell their word correctly. If the spelling is incorrect, the “ding” of a bell concludes their time in the competition.
Spellers can ask the following questions: definition, part of speech, use the word in a sentence, language of origin, alternate pronunciations and repeat the word.
Where is the competition being held?
The 101st competition began on Tuesday, May 26 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC., with 247 spellers ranging in age from 9 to 15. It will end on Thursday, May 28.
It’s the first time the event is taking place at the historic 1929 venue built by the Daughters of the American Revolution to hold the group’s annual convention. The Spelling Bee was previously held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, from 2011 to 2025.
Mina Kimes, the recent victor of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” and ESPN NFL analyst, is hosting the event. Kimes, too, participated in spelling bees in San Pedro, California, while in elementary school.
The spellers came from all over the country and the world. There are spellers from all 50 states and Washington, DC. Thirteen international spellers hail from Guam, Canada, The Bahamas, Ghana, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Spellers implemented unique methods to get through the competition. One speller used the back of her sign to spell out words, some spellers typed them out as one would on a keyboard and some whispered the letters to themselves.
Tough words
The spellers were not given an easy shake. Some of the toughest words of the night included: lucanidae, mnemosyne, eicosanoid and lacrimale.
An estimated 11 million kids participate in spelling bees in the U.S. each year, with the top contenders coming to Washington, DC each spring for a chance to call themselves champion.
Faizan Zaki, then 13, won last year with the word “éclaircissement.”
Spellers must not have passed the 8th grade and cannot be older than 15 to compete, according to Scripps. Before coming to the national competition, spellers must win classroom and regional spelling bees.
The semifinals will air from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET on ION.
Fans can visit spellingbee.com/watch and enter a zip code for instructions on how to watch the Bee in a specific area.
Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected].
