Shrey Parikh of California won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, beating Ishaan Gupta in a spell-off.
WASHINGTON — Shrey Parikh felt the pressure of arriving at the Scripps National Spelling Bee as a favorite, but his confidence showed every time he got a word he knew.
When the bee came down to a lightning-round tiebreaker against Ishaan Gupta, Shrey left no doubt.
Shrey turned a tense, high-quality final into a blowout Thursday night, racing through the 90-second “spell-off” and getting 32 words right to be crowned the best young speller in the English language. Ishaan spelled 25 words correctly in the tiebreaker.
A 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, Shrey finished third in 2024 but lost his school bee last year when he was battling a fever.
He has dominated the bee circuit ever since, winning several highly competitive online competitions against many of the same kids he outlasted this week in the nation’s capital.
According to the official prize structure published by the bee, Shrey receives:
- A $50,000 cash prize from the Scripps National Spelling Bee
- The Scripps Cup championship trophy
- A commemorative medal
- A $2,500 cash prize and reference library from Merriam-Webster
- Reference materials and a three-year online membership from Encyclopedia Britannica
- $1,000 in flight credits from Delta Air Lines
The Scripps National Spelling Bee started Tuesday, May 26 and ran through Thursday, May 29, brings together top spellers from across the United States and several other countries.
This year’s bee features 247 competitors representing all 50 states, Washington, D.C., U.S. territories and several countries abroad. The finals were held at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., after the competition returned to the nation’s capital for 2026.
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