Shrey Parikh, 14, wins the Scripps Spelling Bee after a nail-biting 'spell-off'

NPR ^ | May 30th. 2026 | Rachel Treisman

[Cronos]

After three days of competition, 18 total rounds and one nail-biting, rapid-fire "spell-off," the Scripps National Spelling Bee has crowned its champion: 14-year-old Shrey Parikh

Over the course of two hours , the pool of nine finalists dropped to two: Parikh and 12-year-old Ishaan Gupta from Jersey City.bAfter each had nailed their eighth respective word, officials carried a sleek silver podium — with a buzzer on top — onto the stage, prompting huge gasps from the crowd. It was time for a spell-off.

"I was not excited at all, because to be honest, regular spelling I feel like is a much better show of what spelling is meant to be," Parikh told reporters "But I accepted the fact that there was going to be a spell-off, I calmed my mind, I got some water … and I just tried to take it all in stride and do the best I could."

Parikh and Gupta each had 90 seconds at the buzzer, alone on the stage, to spell as many words correctly as possible. Then, after a few minutes of careful counting, judges made it official: Parikh had crushed 32 words to Gupta's 25, ending in "cashaw" (a type of plant) and setting a new spell-off record.

Parikh will leave D.C. with $52,500 in cash and a slew of other perks, including hundreds of dollars' worth of reference works, flight credits and an astronaut meet-and-greet at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.

He's also coming into some considerable free time: The 8th grader estimates he's spent about five hours a day working on spelling in the past year alone. He's excited to dive deeper into his other hobbies, especially tennis and math competitions. And, even before his win set in, he knew what message he wanted it to send.

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[Biblebelter]

Looks like an Indian and a Paki.

Pic reminds me to check my calendar for upcoming Dr. appointments.

[Fresh Wind]

[libertylover]

I’d never win. Fortunately, the Free Republic Spellchecker works pretty well. More FReepers should use it.

[lodi90]

Hands in pockets? Both of them. Not very bright.

[Sacajaweau]

One big friggin’ waste of time....and totally unfair. They should each be asked to spell the exact same words...in booths I suppose.

[dfwgator]

[Cronos]

You’re correct. Though it ought to be lectern.

Rachel Treisman, the author, seems to have gone to college

[oldtech]

I was a good speller, but never got to Nationals. They use use words I never heard of in my time. How could anyone compete in something like that if you’d never even heard of a certain word?

[Cronos]

Nah, by their surname both are Hindus so most likely of Indian origin.

Though, as Pakistan is a part of Indian civilization cut off you are also correct

[WhiteHatBobby0701]

The finals reached the time limit. Sony now produces the Spelling Bee broadcast, and Michael Davies made the call to reach the tiebreaker before it was past 10 PM. The rules now state when a spelling bee reaches past the two-hour mark, the event can be called and go to the shootout.

[Biblebelter]

My bad, I didn’t think it out.

Pakis are almost muslim and muslims aren’t in to participating in such a Western culture thingy as a spelling bee.

[oldtech]

Retired now, so spelling contests have little meaning nowadays, the words are often meaningless to me....so, I guess...what’s the point? Some foreigners have a better chance of winning, while I have lost any interest in it whatsoever.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I have no words. 😐

[power2]

No whey.

[Sacajaweau]

They give them a dictionary which includes every word that they are asked to spell.

[Round Earther]

Coming to America and spelling the words Americans can’t spell.

[FlingWingFlyer]

American kids do well on pronoun spelling bees and obscenities used by elderly left wing female politicians.