Not front page, top-of-the-fold news; didn’t even make pages 2 or 3, but it instead landed on page 4 with a headline that said it all: “National Spelling Bee Is Decided in a Thriller.” And, in case you missed it, here’s the rest of the story in a nutshell.
Many of us pride ourselves on being good spellers, but a 14-year-old has forced us to rethink that claim. At the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee, Shrey Parikh went toe-to-toe against 12-year-old Ishaan Gupta in a lightning round. Each, in turn, had to try to correctly spell 35 words in 90 seconds, hitting a buzzer as each came barreling his way.
The outcome:
- Ishaan hit the buzzer 29 times and got 25 of them correctly spelled–one helluva feat.
- Shrey owned the night, getting 32 of the 34 words he attempted right.
- The winning word? #34, bromocriptine, “a polypeptide derived from ergot that mimics the activity of dopamine.”
And finally, along with bragging rights, Shrey received:
- $52,000, either by check or digital deposit.
- The Scripps Cup.
- A commemorative medal.
- $2,500 and a reference library from Merriam-Webster.
- From Encyclopedia Britannica, $400 worth of reference books, including a replica of its 1768 encyclopedia.
- $1,000 in Delta Airlines flight credits.
- A trip to Universal Orlando.
Talk about a role model for persistent effort and hard work… Bravo! Bravo!
~ With thanks, Carol
