The Scripps National Spelling Bee 2026 is happening right now. Tonight — Thursday, May 28, 2026 — nine of America’s most gifted young spellers are competing live at a brand-new venue: DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., marking the competition’s historic return to the nation’s capital for the first time in 15 years. Here is everything you need to know, from the finalists to the live updates.
🔴 LIVE: 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals Underway
The final night of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee is currently underway at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The three-day competition began with 247 spellers, and nine students have advanced to tonight’s championship round.
The finals kicked off at 8 p.m. ET on ION and across Scripps streaming channels. Tonight’s winner will take home $50,000 in cash, a commemorative medal, the Scripps Cup, and a $2,500 reference library from Merriam-Webster — plus additional prizes from Encyclopædia Britannica and Scholastic.
Note: This article will be updated as the winner is announced. Bookmark this page for breaking results.
A New Venue: Back to Washington, D.C.
After years at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, the 2026 Bee made a major venue change — moving to DAR Constitution Hall in downtown Washington, D.C. — the competition’s spiritual home for much of its first eight decades.
“For generations, the Scripps National Spelling Bee was part of the fabric of downtown Washington, D.C., and we are proud to be bringing it back,” said Corrie Loeffler, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. “Our 247 spellers — from first-time competitors to returning finalists — will be surrounded by monuments, museums and places of learning that embody the spirit of the competition. It’s a fitting stage for such a talented and dedicated group.”
This is the 98th edition of the Bee — the competition was canceled from 1943 to 1945 due to World War II, and again in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2025 edition marked the competition’s 100th anniversary.
New Host, New Energy: Mina Kimes Takes the Stage
The 2026 Bee introduced a significant change in presentation. Mina Kimes, ESPN analyst and Celebrity Jeopardy! winner, is serving as the Bee’s new host this year, joining alongside veteran analyst Paul Loeffler — a former national competitor himself — who is marking his 20th year as a Bee analyst.
The competition also features a new production team led by Michael Davies, the executive producer of Jeopardy! and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, signaling a fresh broadcast era for one of America’s oldest academic competitions.
The 2026 Finalists: Who Are the Nine?
After three days of brutal competition that whittled 247 spellers down to just nine, here are the finalists competing tonight for the 2026 Scripps Cup:
| Speller | Age | Grade | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zwe Spacetime | 14 | 8th | Fort Washington, Maryland (sponsored by The Washington Informer) |
| Sarv Dharavane | 12 | 6th | Tucker, Georgia |
| Ishaan Gupta | 12 | 7th | Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Kushi Gottimukkala | 13 | 7th | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Avishka Dudala | 13 | 8th | Dallas, Texas |
| Logan Bailey | 12 | 6th | Houston, Texas |
| Shrey Parikh | 14 | 8th | Rancho Cucamonga, California |
| Oliver Halkett | 14 | 8th | Los Angeles, California |
| Aiden Meng | 13 | 7th | Danville, California |
Five of the nine finalists are of Indian origin, continuing a remarkable tradition — Indian-American spellers have claimed the Scripps title approximately 30 times over the past three-plus decades.
Spellers to Watch
Zwe Spacetime — The Home Crowd Favorite
Perhaps the most talked-about finalist, Zwe Spacetime, 14, of Fort Washington, Maryland, carries a uniquely powerful story. He is the younger brother of Zaila Avant-garde, the 2021 Scripps champion who made history as the first African American winner in the Bee’s long history. Zwe advanced to the finals by correctly spelling “palosapis” in the quarterfinals. He is homeschooled and is sponsored by the Washington Informer.
Zwe tied for 10th place in the 2025 Bee, just missing the finals. This year, competing practically on home turf in Washington, D.C., he has a chance to make his own piece of Bee history.
Sarv Dharavane — The Comeback Kid
Sarv Dharavane, just 12 years old and now in sixth grade, finished third at the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee as an 11-year-old. He returned to this year’s competition with a perfect score on the written test, emerging as one of the top favorites. A problem-solving prodigy who earns a green belt in taekwondo and solves Rubik’s Cubes at lightning speed, Sarv aspires to be a scientist or mathematician.
Shrey Parikh — The Circuit Champion
Shrey Parikh, 14, from Rancho Cucamonga, California, finished third in the 2024 Scripps Bee. He missed qualifying for 2025 at the school level but dominated the independent spelling circuit since, winning the South Asian Spelling Bee, the SpellPundit National Spelling Bee, and the Words of Wisdom Spelling Bee. He arrives in 2026 as one of the most decorated competitors.
Ishaan Gupta — The Published Author
Among the finalists, Ishaan Gupta, 12, of Jersey City, New Jersey, stands out for achievements beyond the microphone. He is a published author and Gold Medal winner in STEM, having co-authored a climate fiction book — The Martian Miracle: Ivaan and the Climate Crisis. He reportedly has a personal library of over 650 books.
Kushi Gottimukkala — The Olympiad Star
Kushi Gottimukkala, 13, of Charlotte, North Carolina, advanced to the finals by correctly spelling “Chelicerata.” Beyond spelling, she actively competes in Math and Science Olympiad and has a deep passion for history.
How 247 Spellers Became Nine
The 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee ran from May 26 to 28 at DAR Constitution Hall. Competitors faced a grueling multi-phase format:
- Preliminaries (May 26): Oral spelling rounds and vocabulary questions. The field was cut dramatically, with spellers facing words drawn from Latin, Greek, French, German, and dozens of other linguistic roots.
- Quarterfinals (May 27): The remaining field was trimmed further, with oral spelling and vocabulary challenges eliminating competitor after competitor.
- Semifinals (May 27–28): The field narrowed to the final nine who advanced to the championship round.
Throughout the early rounds, spellers were felled by vocabulary from across disciplines — science, geography, literature, and classical languages. Words like “palosapis” (a Philippine timber tree) and “Chelicerata” (a subphylum of arthropods) gave a sense of the extraordinary depth of knowledge these young spellers possess.
The Road Here: 2025 Champion Faizan Zaki
The defending champion — Faizan Zaki, 13, of Allen, Texas — is not eligible to return, having competed in the 2025 Bee as a seventh-grader. Faizan won the historic 100th anniversary Scripps Bee last year on May 29, 2025, correctly spelling “éclaircissement” (a French word meaning “the clearing up of something obscure”) in a dramatic final that saw all three remaining finalists stumble in the same round before Faizan triumphed.
His win was a redemption arc for the ages — he had finished second in 2024, third in spirit in 2023, and made his debut all the way back in 2019. He walked away with $50,000 from Scripps, plus prizes from Merriam-Webster and Encyclopædia Britannica.
Recent Scripps National Spelling Bee Champions
| Year | Champion | Age | State | Winning Word |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Faizan Zaki | 13 | Texas | éclaircissement |
| 2024 | Bruhat Soma | 12 | Florida | abseil (spell-off) |
| 2023 | Dev Shah | 14 | Florida | psammophile |
| 2022 | Harini Logan | 14 | Texas | moorhen (spell-off) |
| 2021 | Zaila Avant-garde | 14 | Louisiana | murraya |
Prize Breakdown: What the 2026 Winner Takes Home
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st (Champion) | $52,500 in cash + Scripps Cup + commemorative medal + Merriam-Webster & Britannica reference works |
| 2nd | $25,000 |
| 3rd | $15,000 |
| 4th | $10,000 |
| 5th | $5,000 |
| 6th | $2,500 |
| 7th–9th | $2,000 each |
Where to Watch the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee
The finals are airing live tonight:
- Network: ION (free over-the-air)
- Time: 8 p.m. – 10 p.m. ET
- Streaming: Available across Scripps-owned platforms
If you have an antenna, services like Tablo allow you to record the ION broadcast. The Bee is also being streamed on Scripps digital channels.
What Makes the Scripps National Spelling Bee Special?
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is not just a memory contest — it is a test of linguistic depth, etymology, and under-pressure composure. Competitors may ask pronouncers for the word’s language of origin, definition, part of speech, alternate pronunciations, and use in a sentence. A single letter out of place ends everything.
Since its founding in 1925, the Bee has grown from nine newspaper-sponsored participants to a national institution representing all 50 states, U.S. territories, and international delegations. It is administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E.W. Scripps Company through 291 regional sponsors across the United States, Europe, Canada, and beyond.
To qualify, a speller must win a regional competition. Contestants must not be older than 15 or have progressed beyond eighth grade. The national competition tests not just the ability to spell, but a genuine mastery of the English language in all its borrowed, tangled, beautiful complexity.
Who do you think will win the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee? Drop your prediction in the comments — and bookmark this page for the winner announcement the moment it drops!