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The Scripps National Spelling Bee is back this week for its 90th year, with its youngest speller ever, its largest-ever field of contestants and new rules designed to prevent the annual competition from ending in a tie for the fourth year in a row.
A record 291 spellers will compete in this year’s bee, which kicks off Tuesday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, just outside of Washington. The winner will be crowned Thursday night during a live, prime-time broadcast on ESPN.
Three students from across Washington state will compete this week. They come from Sammamish, La Conner, and Oroville.
Bio: Vithul plays two instruments and knows three languages: English, Tamil and Hindi. Next year he will begin learning Spanish in school. He likes to play outside and to challenge himself in whatever he does (physically and academically). Vithul loves to swim and ride his bike around his neighborhood. He also likes to play chess. He has taken Indian Carnatic music lessons and is currently taking piano lessons.
Bio: Leonardo enjoys studying math, physics and spelling. He likes reading both nonfiction and fiction books, and he learns many new words and facts from them. Leonardo also plays piano, and his favorite piece to play is "Rondo Alla Turca" by Mozart. In his free time, Leonardo plays with his sister and conducts science experiments in his lab. Leonardo participated in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2016, and this year he hopes to improve his final ranking.
Bio: Charity has many interests, and one of the big ones is hanging out with her best friends. She was in the Scripps National Spelling Bee last year and is very excited to be back! She listens to most top hit music and has just started listening to Hamilton: An American Musical, which she really enjoys. She loves trying new foods. She has lots of favorite foods, but she especially loves banana split blizzards from Dairy Queen. She also likes traveling to new places, such as France, Spain, Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Some things she likes to do for fun are go to the beach and go to amusement parks.
This year’s 291 spellers come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Department of Defense Schools in Europe. Eleven represent the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.
The spellers range in age from 6 to 15 and include Edith Fuller, a 6-year-old kindergarten student from Tulsa, Okla. Edith was just 5 years old when she qualified for the national competition, making her the youngster-ever speller.
All spellers will take a written spelling and vocabulary test on Tuesday, which will be followed by two rounds of oral competition on Wednesday. The results of the written test and the oral competition will be used to narrow the list to no more than 50 finalists, who will go on to compete on Thursday.
The winner — or winners — will take home $40,000 in cash, a trophy and other prizes.
What: 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee
Who: 291 spellers from all 50 states, several U.S. protectorates and foreign countries
When: Tuesday-Thursday
Where: Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, metropolitan D.C.
Broadcast: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET Wednesday; ESPN 3; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. ET Thursday, ESPN 2, 8:30-10:30 p.m. ET Thursday, ESPN
