It came down to a 90-second Spell-Off, and Shrey Parikh finished on top.
The 14-year-old from San Bernardino, California, won the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, May 28, after spelling 32 words to runner-up Ishaan Gupta’s 25. His winning word was “bromocriptine,” defined as “a polypeptide alkaloid that is a derivative of ergot and mimics the activity of dopamine.”
Shrey will take home $52,500, the Scripps Cup, a commemorative medal and other prizes.
The final two went head-to-head in a Spell-Off to close the finals at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. The format was introduced in 2021. Each speller had 90 seconds to spell as many words as possible. While one participant competed, the other was sequestered with headphones on and could not hear the words being read. Judges presented the same words in the same order, and the winner was the participant who correctly spelled the most words.
Nine finalists competed for the title. It was the first time the bee had been held in the nation’s capital in 15 years.
The other finalists were Oliver Halkett of Los Angeles, California; Zwe Spacetime of Washington, DC; Kushi Gottimukkala of Charlotte, North Carolina; Avishka Dudala of Dallas; Aiden Meng of Danville, California; Sarv Dharavane of Tucker, Georgia; and Logan Bailey of Houston.
According to Scripps, eight of the nine finalists had appeared in previous Scripps National Spelling Bees, and three had advanced to the finals in earlier appearances.
Aiden opened the competition with the word “essoinee.” He was the first eliminated in the third round after missing “catometope.” Oliver was second, Zwe was third, Avishka was fourth, Logan was fifth and Kushi was sixth.
Some of the hardest words of the night included cara sposa and quincke tube. The last two standing were Ishaan and Shrey.
The finals included two spelling rounds and a vocabulary round. Scripps introduced the onstage vocabulary round in 2021 to take emphasis off spelling memorization. In that round, each speller gets a multiple-choice question about a word’s definition.
For spelling rounds, spellers were given 90 seconds to spell each word. If a spelling was incorrect, judges rang a bell and that ended the speller’s time in the competition. According to Scripps, spellers could ask for the definition, part of speech, use of the word in a sentence, language of origin, alternate pronunciations and for the word to be repeated.
The competition began on Tuesday, May 26, with 247 spellers representing all 50 states. International spellers came from Guam, Canada, The Bahamas, Ghana, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The spellers ranged in age from nine to 15.
To qualify, students must not be older than 15 or have passed the 8th grade, according to Scripps. Students reach the national bee after winning classroom and regional bees, and national competitors are selected based on competition results. Scripps says an estimated 11 million children take part in spelling bees in the U.S. each year.
The champion’s prize package includes $50,000 in cash, a commemorative medal and the Scripps Cup from the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Merriam-Webster adds $2,500 in cash and a reference library. Encyclopædia Britannica provides $400 of reference works, including a 1768 Encyclopædia Britannica replica set and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex gives two-day admission for up to four people, a two-night hotel stay, an astronaut meet and greet, and $350 in merchandise. Delta Air Lines provides $1,000 in flight credits.
