I'm probably the happiest I've ever been. Just such a flood of emotions.
In Washington, D.C., on a spring evening, a 14-year-old from California stood at the center of a century-old American ritual and emerged as its newest champion. Shrey Parikh's victory at the 98th Scripps National Spelling Bee was not simply a feat of memorization, but a story of resilience — of a boy who lost his school bee while ill, finished third on the national stage, and returned to claim the title that had eluded him. In a competition that distills human perseverance into the precise articulation of language, his win reminds us that mastery is rarely a straight line.
- After two finalists remained deadlocked, the competition transformed into a 90-second sprint — a format where composure under pressure matters as much as knowledge.
- Shrey spelled 32 words to Ishaan Gupta's 25, with a single word — bromocriptine — marking the decisive edge between champion and runner-up.
- The victory carries the emotional weight of a comeback: a school bee lost to illness, a third-place finish in 2024, and years of grinding through online competitions against the same rivals.
- Two hundred forty-seven spellers from all 50 states and six countries converged on Constitution Hall, the bee's return to Washington lending the moment a heightened sense of national occasion.
- Shrey's own words captured the release: relief, joy, and the long shadow of past disappointment finally lifting.
Shrey Parikh left Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., on Thursday as the 111th champion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee — a title earned across 98 years of competition, with the count exceeding the number of contests only because some years refused to produce a single winner. The 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, outlasted eight other finalists before the competition came down to a tiebreaker against Ishaan Gupta, a 12-year-old from Jersey City, New Jersey.
In the spell-off, each contestant had 90 seconds to spell as many words as possible. Shrey spelled 32; Ishaan spelled 25. The word bromocriptine — a polypeptide alkaloid that mimics dopamine in the brain — was later identified as the one that sealed his win, though in the breathless pace of the moment, such distinctions blur.
The victory meant more than the $52,500 prize and accompanying honors. Shrey had finished third at the national bee in 2024, and the year before that had lost his school bee while sick with a fever — a defeat that didn't fully register until the following day. He had since dominated the online spelling circuit, but the national stage was where the redemption needed to happen.
"Right now I'm probably the happiest I've ever been," he said afterward, describing a flood of emotions and relief that only a hard-fought comeback can produce.
The field he conquered was formidable: 247 spellers from every U.S. state, several territories, and countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Canada, and the UAE. They navigated preliminary rounds, a written test drawn from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary, and oral elimination rounds before the finals. The bee itself dates to 1925, interrupted only by World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic. Its return to Constitution Hall this year — just blocks from the White House — gave Shrey's win a stage worthy of the journey it took to reach it.
Shrey Parikh walked out of Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., on Thursday evening as the 111th champion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee—a distinction that matters more than the ordinal number suggests, since the competition has crowned 111 winners across 98 years of contests, the result of ties that refused to break cleanly. The 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, had just outlasted eight other finalists to claim the title, but the path to victory came down to a single tiebreaker: a 90-second sprint where speed and accuracy became the only measures that mattered.
When Shrey and Ishaan Gupta, a 12-year-old from Jersey City, New Jersey, found themselves as the last two spellers standing, the competition shifted into a format that moves so fast the winning word itself becomes almost invisible in the blur. Each contestant had 90 seconds to spell as many words correctly as possible. Shrey spelled 32. Ishaan spelled 25. The gap was decisive enough that when Scripps announced the winner later, they could point to a specific word—bromocriptine, a polypeptide alkaloid that mimics dopamine's activity in the brain—as the one that secured Shrey's victory, though in the moment, such precision felt beside the point.
The win carried tangible rewards: $52,500 in cash, reference works from Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, a custom trophy, a commemorative medal, and $1,000 in Delta Air Lines flight credits. But for Shrey, the money and hardware seemed almost secondary to the emotional weight of the moment. He had finished third in the 2024 bee, and the year before that, he had lost his school bee while fighting a fever—a loss that stung enough that it took until the next day for the disappointment to fully settle in. Since then, he had dominated the online spelling circuit, winning several competitions against many of the same competitors he faced this week in the nation's capital.
"Right now I'm probably the happiest I've ever been," Shrey said after his victory, his voice carrying the kind of relief that comes from redemption. "I'm just so happy and relieved, and just such a flood of emotions. At my school bee last year, I was really dejected and just very upset. It didn't even sink in until the next day. I had a really tough time, but I'm glad I was able to bounce back."
The road to the finals had been long and rigorous. Two hundred forty-seven spellers representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, three U.S. territories, and five other countries—the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates—had entered the competition. They first faced two preliminary rounds, where they were tested on words from an advance list, with one spelling round and one multiple-choice vocabulary round. Those who advanced sat for a written test combining spelling and vocabulary questions drawn from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary. The field narrowed from 247 to 167 after preliminaries, then to 95 quarterfinalists after the written test. From there, spellers were eliminated one by one at the microphone through oral spelling or vocabulary questions during the quarterfinals and semifinals.
The bee itself carries a century of American tradition. It began in 1925 when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington. For decades it had been held at a convention center in suburban Maryland, but this year it returned to Constitution Hall, just a few blocks from the White House. The competition had been canceled only twice: from 1943 to 1945 during World War II, and in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. For Shrey, winning in the nation's capital, surrounded by competitors from across the country and around the world, meant something beyond the individual achievement. It meant he had proven himself not just to his school, not just to California, but to the entire national stage.
Notable Quotes
Right now I'm probably the happiest I've ever been. I'm just so happy and relieved, and just such a flood of emotions. At my school bee last year, I was really dejected and just very upset. It didn't even sink in until the next day. I had a really tough time, but I'm glad I was able to bounce back.— Shrey Parikh
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What made the difference for Shrey this time, after finishing third last year and losing his school bee the year before that?
He had time to process the disappointment and then channel it. He spent the year winning online competitions against the same kids he'd be facing at nationals. That's not luck—that's deliberate preparation and mental recovery.
The spell-off format is unusual. Ninety seconds to spell as many words as possible. How does that change the competition?
It strips away the drama of a single word deciding everything. You can't hide. You either know the words or you don't, and you have to prove it under pressure. Shrey spelled 32 words correctly. Ishaan spelled 25. That's a clear margin, but you only get there if you're fast and accurate simultaneously.
Bromocriptine—the winning word. That's a pharmaceutical term. Does the bee favor certain kinds of knowledge?
The words come from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary, so technically anything is fair game. But yes, medical and scientific terminology tends to appear. These kids study across every domain. They're not just memorizing; they're learning etymology, pronunciation, meaning.
Shrey is 14, in eighth grade. What happens to these kids after they win?
They move on. Some compete again if they're young enough. Some use the platform for other things—speaking engagements, scholarships, visibility. But the bee itself is a moment, not a career. For Shrey, it's vindication and closure on a difficult year.