That’s all for tonight. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to read the full report here.
History has been made outside the nation’s capital. In 96 previous National Spelling Bees going back a century, only four runners-up went on to win the title. And only one of those had managed it in the past 44 years, when Sean Conley won it all in 2001 after finishing second the year before. Faizan Zaki has just become the fifth.
An elated Zaki is asked what he was thinking during those tension-filled final rounds. “I was just ready to get it over with,” he says. “I definitely wasn’t expecting this, though.”
Asked what’s next for him, Zaki is to the point: “No idea. I’m probably going to stay up the entire night or something.”
Faizan Zaki wins the National Spelling Bee!
Zaki, a 13-year-old seventh-grader from Dallas, is given his winning word: éclaircissement. It’s a noun meaning a clearing up of something obscure. But Faizan doesn’t ask any questions or wait even a moment before rattling it off: É-C-L-A-I-R-C-I-S-S-E-M-E-N-T.
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Getting down to the wire. Sarvadnya Kadam is given Uaupés, a geographical name for a river in Colombia and Brazil flowing east-southeast into the Negro River. He makes his attempt: H-U-A-U-P-E-S. Oh no!
Faizan Zaki then follows by correctly spelling Chaldee, the Aramaic vernacular that was the original language of some parts of the Bible. If he spells his next word correctly, he will be declared champion. If not, both spellers will be reinstated.
ELIMINATED (AGAIN): Sarv Dharavane (eserine), two spellers left
Here we go. Sarvadnya Kadam spells muhly correctly. Sarv Dharavane is eliminated for a second time on eserine, missing on the third letter. Faizan Zaki spells Cupar (pronounced like Cooper) correctly. Two left going into round 20.
Kadam and Dharavane reinstated after Zaki misspells (commelina)
Faizan Zaki’s word to advance to the Spelling Bee winning word has been given. It’s commelina. Almost immediately after it leaves Bailly’s mouth, he excitedly begins spelling. But he was so excited with a word he thought he recognized, he didn’t realize commelina starts with a C and not a K. Under the rules of the Bee, once you begin spelling you can’t restart. Normally he’d be eliminated on a major blunder. But since none of the three spelled their words correctly in this round, all three are back in! What drama!
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ELIMINATED: Sarv Dharavane (acker), one speller left
Sarv Dharavane is next, all of 11 years old. His word is acker, a ripple or a patch of ruffled water. He goes for it: A-C-H-E-R. No!
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ELIMINATED: Sarvadnya Kadam (tirak), two spellers left
The 18th round begins with three spellers remaining. Sarvadnya Kadam is first and his word is tirak, a physiological disease of Indian cotton characterized by premature yellowing and shedding of leaves. He goes through his inquiries and seems to be on the right track (no pun intended). He makes his attempt: T-E-R-A-K. No! The first syllable is a schwa and it’s tripped him up.
But don’t go too far. No one has spelled correctly yet in this round, so if Dharavane and Zaki miss their words then Kadam is right back in.
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Faizan Zaki wastes no time closing the round. His word is Symlin. It’s a trademark but that doesn’t give him even a moment of pause. What carnage. After three straight trips without an elimination, that 17th round saw the field winnowed from six to three.
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ELIMINATED: Aishwarya Kallakuri (Keighley), three spellers left
A third straight elimination. Aishwarya Kallakuri, the 14-year-old eighth-grader from Charlotte sponsored by the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, falters on Keighley, the name of a town northwest of Leeds in West Yorkshire.
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ELIMINATED: Brian Liu (kyah), four spellers left
Brian Liu is next. He’s given the word kyah, an Indian partridge having a strong spur. He calmly goes through the info before making his attempt: K-I-Y-A. And there’s the bell! After a run of 26 correctly spelled words without a bell, we’ve had two eliminations in a row.
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ELIMINATED: Harini Murali (tekke), five spellers left
Sarvadnya Kadam kicks off the 17th round. He gets a geological word: Ordovician. He repeats it three times aloud, then slowly begins his attempt. And he drills it flawlessly. Sarv Dharavane is next and his word is dhaura, an east Indian tree. And he breezes through it with confidence. Harini Murali’s word is tekke, a word of Turkish origian for a Dervish monastery. This could be tricky. The 13-year-old eighth-grader from New Jersey looks skyward. She’s underneath 30 seconds. Underneath 20 seconds. She begins spelling: T-E-K-K-I. Oh no! So close!
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That’s 24 words on the trot without the sound of the dreaded bell. Three perfect rounds. Might it be time for Scripps to bring out the hard ones, at least if they want to finish inside their broadcast window.
Round 16 starts ... now. First to the spot is Sarvadnya Kadam, the 14-year-old eighth-grader from Visalia, California. His word is meliponine and he immediately asks for all the information. The clock ticks down: 30 seconds, 20 seconds, 10 seconds ... and he comes through with the correct spelling. What tension!
Sarv Dharavane, the 11-year-old from Georgia comes to the mic and says: “What’s up?” That draws laughs from the crowd. His word is burgall. “Here goes nothing,” he says, before making his attempt. And he nails it, appearing more surprised with the outcome than anyone else in the room.
Harini Murali, the New Jersey eighth-grader, goes through her inquiries on Septième with business-like efficiency. It’s a Latin-derived French word meaning an organ mutation stop sounding the minor seventh above the fundamental. Of course. She rushes out the spelling and gets it correct, letting out a long sigh of relief at the confirmation.
Brian Liu’s word is reseda and he has no problems with it. Aishwarya Kallakuri nails corylaceous. And Faizan Zaki closes with olona, which is a Hawaiian shurb. Last year’s runner-up blows right through it with barely a thought.
Another perfect round. It’s been nearly an hour since we’ve heard that bell.
Into the 15th round we go. Sarvadnya Kadam is given athalamous, an adjective meaning without apothecia, beds, or shields for spores. He calmly drills it. The 11-year-old Sarv Dharavane is next. His word is saurel. It’s a homonym but that doesn’t trip him up in the slightest. The Georgia tween is unflappable!
Harini Murali is next. Her word is rompu, an adjective that went from Latin to French defined as depicted as broken usually with the broken piece pushed up. She dutifully spells it on her right hand ... then spells it correctly into the mic. She’s through. Now it’s Brian Liu’s turn and he correctly spells penannular.
Aishwarya Kallakuri is given Savonnerie and she seems to know it immediately. Roars of applause. Faizan Zaki will close out the round. The word is adytum, the innermost sanctuary or shrine in ancient temples. He flies through it and it’s a third perfect round.
On we go into the 14th round. Sarvadnya Kadam steps to the mic. His word is bergerette a noun from Latin-derived French meaning a 16th-century pastoral song or dance. He repeats it to himself three times, pauses, takes a breath and begins: B-E-R-G-E-R-E-T-T-E. He trusted his first insticts and it paid off. Sarv Dharavane is given the noun galactagogue, which means an agent promoting secretion of milk. Again with the schwa sound, which could be any vowel. And he picks the right one! He’s through to the next round.
Harini Murali’s word is epistrophe, a Greek word meaning repetition of a word or expression at the end of successive phrases, clauses, sentences or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect (such as Lincoln’s “of the people, by the people, for the people”). She spends a lot of time sussing it out but ultimately has no problem. Next it’s Brian Liu and his word is lysigenous. Nails it. Now it’s Aishwarya Kallakuri’s turn. Her word is polyptoton, another word for a rhetorical device. She repeats it three times aloud before spelling it correctly.
Now Faizan Zaki will close out the round with radicicolous, defined as living on or in roots. He asks for all the info before rattling it off: R-A-D-I-C-I-C-O-L-O-U-S.
It’s the second perfect round of the night.
Sarvadnya Kadam is next up. The 14-year-old from Visalia, California, is given tachist, a German-derived French word. He also uses a lot of clock and begins spelling with about 15 seconds to go. And he nails it! Sarv Dharavane, the 11-year-old from Tucker, Georgia, is next. He correctly spells fede ring, a finger ring typically bearing a device in the shape of two clasped hands and used especially among Europeans as a token of loyalty or faith between two persons. An oddball choice but he survives it. Harini Murali has no problem with baguio, a Spanish which took it from Tagalog. Brian Liu gets through kinnor, then Aishwarya Kallakuri drills zecchino, diligently spelling it on her right hand. That leaves fan favorite Faizan Zaki, whose word is daimiate. It’s potentially tricky but he spells it with brio.
Round 13 is in books with six spellers remaining.
ELIMINATED: Oliver Halkett (aurore), six spellers left
Oliver Halkett is next. His word is aurore, an adjetive from Latin-derived French meaning marked by or relating to a yellow or pink tint given a white sauce by the addition of egg yolks, tomato puree or lobster coral. He inquires about the information very quickly but he’s using a lot of time. Down to 15 seconds. And he misses it. Oh dear.
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ELIMINATED: Esha Marupudi (aromorphosis), seven spellers left
Esha Marupudi is back at center stage. Her word is aromorphosis, defined as biological evolution marked by general increase in degree of organization without sharp specialization. One of those infamous schwa sounds. This could be tricky for the young songwriter. She asks for the information before starting ... A-R-A-M-O-R-P-H-O-S-I-S. Oh no! The dreaded bell! And then there were seven ...
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Faizan Zaki closes out the one and only vocab round of the night. He correctly answers the question for sapience. We’re down to eight contestants and it will only be spelling from here on out.
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ELIMINATED: Akshaj Somisetty (imbroglio), eight spellers left
On we go into the next round and Esha Marupudi, the 13-year-old from Phoenix is back on the stage. She’s tasked with answering a vocabulary question under the rejiggered format. She will only have 30 seconds to answer a multiple-choice question for the word ... vasodilator. And she immediately nails it. This round will move quickly.
Oliver Halkett, who wants to be US secretary of state one day, answers his vocab question (gerontocracy) without pause. Sarvadnya Kadam takes more time on dyslogistic and asks Bailly to repeat the question ... but he gets it right. Sarv Dharavane gets hyaline. Harini Murali gets jeremiad.
Brian Liu’s word is cerulean and he smiles the moment he hears it. Easy. Aishwarya Kallakuri is next. Her word is innominable. Nails it. Akshaj Somisetty’s word is imbroglio. He asks for a repeat of the word then a repeat of the choices, just to be safe ... and he chooses “a stone carving” instead of the correct choice, “a complicated situation”. For the first time all night, we hear the bell!
Making it to the Bee once is impressive. Qualifying twice? UnBEElievable! That's just what #Speller182 Akshaj Somisetty has done. He thanks his school and loved ones for helping him get here, and they're sure to be right beside him in his new chapter. #TheBeeTurns100 #SpellingBee pic.twitter.com/EqwnrD2ysr
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 30, 2025
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New Jersey’s Harini Murali is next. Her first test is bibliognost, a noun meaning one that has comprehensive knowledge of books. No problems there. Brian Liu of Great Neck, New York, follows. His opener is infula and he wastes little time spelling it correctly. Aishwarya Kallakuri idempotent, which means relating to or being a mathematical quantity which when applied to itself under a given binary operation (such as multiplication) equals itself. She nails it. Akshaj Somisetty has no issue spelling gomphosis. It’s a blistering eight-for-eight out of the gate. Next is Faizan Zaki, last year’s runner-up, who will try to make it the first perfect round of the finals in six years … and he does! The word is Politique and he drills it confidently. What a start!
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It’s time! The nine finalists have taken the stage. Esha Marupudi is first and she nails isopag, an equiglacial line on a map or chart that connects the points where ice is present for approximately the same number of days in winter. Next up is Oliver Halkett and he confidently spells corbicula. Sarvadnya Kadam has no problems with dolabrate. Now it’s Sarv Dharavane, the 11-year-old who is the youngest of the nine finalists. His word is ethology, defined as the scientific and objective study of animal behavior especially under natural conditions. After a few questions for head pronouncer Dr Jacques Bailly, he coolly drills it. Four up, four down: a roaring start heading into the first commercial break.
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The majority of entrants in the National Spelling Bee are from the US, hailing from all 50 states. But some have traveled farther for the competition. Alleena Villaluz traveled some 7,800 miles from Saipan, a US commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands roughly 133 miles (by air) from Guam. This was her second consecutive Bee. Other spellers came from Canada, the Bahamas, Germany, Ghana, Kuwait, Nigeria, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
What’s the vibe inside the room? Professional spelling bee tutor and Guardian contributor Scott Remer checks in from the National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland:
The energy in the room is building as the finalists take the stage. The Marine Band has just played the national anthem and presented the colors, and moments ago the crowd erupted in applause for more than 40 former national champions gathered for the Bee’s centennial celebration – ranging from winners of the 1960s to 2023 champion (and my former student), Dev Shah, and last year’s winner, Bruhat Soma.
Although this year’s field is smaller than usual, with nine finalists instead of the standard 12, it’s a formidable group. Expect a fiercely contested finals tonight.
This year the National Spelling Bee is celebrating its 100th anniversary, though it’s only the 97th staging as it was canceled from 1943 to 1945 due to the second world war and in 2020 for Covid. The first was held in 1925 with just nine contestants, with Kentucky’s Frank Neuhauser taking home the title by correctly spelling gladiolus, a flower he had raised as a boy. He took home $500 in gold pieces for his trouble. Other tricky championship-winning words down the years include esquamulose (1962), xanthosis (1995), succedaneum (2001) and appoggiatura (2005).
Ever wonder how you’d match up against the champions of the past. Here’s your chance. Take our quiz to see if you can spell a sampling of the championship-winning words from previous bees.
There’s plenty at stake for the nine spellers who have made it this far. The last girl or boy standing will receive: a $50,000 cash prize, a commemorative medal and the Scripps Cup trophy (from Scripps); $2,500 cash and a reference library (from Merriam-Webster); a one-year subscription to Britannica Online Premium (from Encyclopædia Britannica), in addition to various other academic bits and bobs.
The runner-up will receive $25,000, with cash prizes for third ($15,000), fourth ($10,000), fifth ($5,000) and sixth places ($2,500). The seventh-, eighth- and ninth-place finishers will go home with a cool $2,000 apiece. Additionally, all nine finalists will be awarded commemorative medals.
If two or more spellers tie for first, each will receive $50,000. That’s not a remote possibility, at least not anymore. When Sriram J Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe shared the title in 2014, it was the first time the National Spelling Bee had co-champions since 1962. Then Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam fought to a memorable stalemate in 2015, prompting officials to install rule changes – a longer championship round with more difficult words – in an effort to ensure singular champions moving forward, only for Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga to fight to a third straight tie in 2016. Then, in 2019, an unprecedented eight spellers tied for the title when organizers ran out of words considered challenging enough for the field. That prompted a major overhaul for 2021 including the addition of vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker. Last year’s finals, indeed, came down to a “spell-off”.
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Why isn’t the Spelling Bee on ESPN anymore?
Over nearly three decades the Spelling Bee cultivated something of a cult following on ESPN. But this marks the fourth year since the sports cabler’s agreement with the EW Scripps Company expired and the Ohio-based media firm decided to move the production in-house to Ion Television, one of the national broadcast networks it owns. At the time of the move, organizers claimed the timing of the NBA finals created problematic scheduling and resource conflicts with ESPN, which had carried it for 27 straight years (starting in 1994).
It’s been a bit of a downer for longtime fans of ESPN’s consistently robust coverage, which in later years included a special Play-Along simulcast on ESPN3 that featured a second-screen, multiple-choice version allowing viewers to compete along with the spellers. Some have complained Ion is more difficult to find, but the ratings have only trended in the right direction since its 2022 debut on the network.
The Spelling Bee has always been one of the more photogenic events on the US sports calendar. This year has been no exception. Here’s a look at some of the best shots from the 2025 contest (so far).
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All eyes are on Faizan Zaki tonight he chases a redemption that’s proven rare on spelling’s biggest stage. The 13-year-old from Dallas is looking to win the Bee after finishing as the runner-up the year before, something that’s only happened once in the past 44 years.
It’s a daunting task. Out of 96 Bees held over the past century, only four second-place finishers have come back to win – and only one has done it since the early 1980s. That was Sean Conley, who lost in 2000 and triumphed in 2001. Now, Zaki hopes to join that elite company.
But if he’s feeling the weight of history, he doesn’t show it.
With a black hoodie pulled over his shaggy hair and a laid-back swagger that’s all his own, Zaki has breezed through the early rounds of this year’s competition. He was the only speller to earn a perfect score on the written spelling and vocabulary exam that determined the quarterfinalists, a strong signal that last year’s heartbreak didn’t shake his confidence.
Then came Wednesday’s quarter-final and semi-final stages, where Zaki made it look almost casual. He strolled to the microphone round after round, rattling off spellings with calm precision and his signature flair: hands emerging from his hoodie pouch to “type” each letter in the air as he said them aloud. It’s equal parts technique and trademark.
His only wobble came late, on the word coterell, a tricky entry that earned him a brief pause and a visible sigh of relief after he nailed it. The fist pump that followed said it all: he’s back and he’s coming for everything.
“It was just very relieving,” Zaki said yesterday after clinching his spot in tonight’s finals. “I have a lot of expectations put on me, so I’m just excited that I’m going to the finals again.”
Expectations indeed. After last year’s thrilling but painful loss in a spell-off tiebreaker with Bruhat Soma, Zaki has become something of a fan favorite. And while his mastery of language roots, etymology and wordplay is undeniable, history suggests he’s still the underdog. That’s fine by him.
“Hopefully I can get it done,” he said. “Especially back home, all of my friends, they tell me that I need to win this year.”
A look at tonight's nine finalists
Well, here we are. It’s all happening. The championship finals of the 97th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee are upon us. The eyes of the English-language orthographic world are trained on the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, where spelling’s biggest night is a little more than an hour away from popping off.
More than 11m students, ranging in age from six to 14, participated in this year’s competition at one stage or another. Of those, 243 earned a trip to (just outside) the nation’s capital by winning spelling bees organized by their local sponsors, typically newspapers, universities or non-profits. All roads have led to tonight: the Super Bowl for smart kids. And it all gets started at 8pm ET.
How to watch
All times Eastern.
Tue 27 May Preliminaries 8am to 4.40pm (BounceXL, spellingbee.com)
Wed 28 May Quarter-finals 8am to 12.45pm (BounceXL, spellingbee.com)
Wed 28 May Semi-finals 2.30pm to 6.30pm (BounceXL, spellingbee.com)
Thu 29 May Finals 8pm to 10pm (ION)
That elite field of 243 invitees was narrowed down to 99 during Tuesday’s preliminary spelling and vocabulary rounds. Three quarter-final rounds on Wednesday morning narrowed the field to 57 semi-finalists with only nine surviving the afternoon semi-finals to reach tonight’s nationally televised finale.
The nonet represents the best of the best. Here’s who they are.
Speller No 4, Esha Marupudi
Age 13, 7th grade
Sponsor: Arizona Educational Foundation (Phoenix, Arizona)
School: BASIS Chandler
Fun fact: Esha writes lyrics and composes her own songs.
Speller No 20, Oliver Halkett
Age 13, 7th grade
Sponsor: Los Angeles County Office of Education (Los Angeles, California)
School: Mirman School
Fun fact: Oliver received a National History Day honorable mention for his essay on the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Speller No 30, Sarvadnya Kadam
Age 14, 8th grade
Sponsor: Tulare County Office of Education (Visalia, California)
School: Oak Grove Elementary School
Fun fact: Sarvadnya speaks Marathi, Hindi and English and wants to learn Sanskrit after he retires from spelling.
Speller No 53, Sarv Dharavane
Age 11, 5th grade
Sponsor: Georgia Association of Educators (Tucker, Georgia)
School: Austin Elementary School
Fun fact: Sarv enjoys folding origami and has decided he will fold 1,000 paper cranes.
Speller No 136, Harini Murali
Age 13, 8th grade
Sponsor: SNSB Region Three Bee (Edison, New Jersey)
School: Woodrow Wilson Middle School
Fun fact: Harini has been learning Carnatic music, an Indian classical style, since she was 6.
Speller No 144, Brian Liu
Age 13, 8th grade
Sponsor: SNSB Region Four Bee (Great Neck, New York)
School: Great Neck North Middle School
Fun fact: Brian’s pet chinchillas are named Obsidian and Stormy for their colors and personalities.
Speller No 156, Aishwarya Kallakuri
Age 14, 8th grade
Sponsor: Carolina Panthers (Charlotte, North Carolina)
School: Valor Preparatory Academy
Fun fact: Aishwarya is really interested in psychology theory, especially the work of Carl Jung.
Speller No 182, Akshaj Somisetty
Age 13, 8th grade
Sponsor: Pennon Education (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
School: Mountain View Middle School
Fun fact: Akshaj has recently started collecting different currencies and has collected money from over 10 countries already.
Speller No 207, Faizan Zaki
Age 13, 7th grade
Sponsor: Dallas Sports Commission (Dallas, Texas)
School: CM Rice Middle School
Fun fact: Faizan can speed-solve a Rubik’s Cube in about 30 seconds.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here is a lookahead to tonight’s finals.
