9 spellers advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals. Here’s where they’re from.

WASHINGTON — The 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee started on Tuesday with 247 spellers. After the semifinals on Wednesday, only nine spellers remained.

The spellers in this year’s bee represent 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.

Finals will be broadcast on Thursday on ION from 8 to 10 p.m. The finals will also air or be streamed on these Scripps-owned channels or services: ION Plus, Bounce, Grit, Laff, The Spot, Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More, Scripps News and Scripps Sports Network.

The top returning finisher from 2025, Sarv Dharavane of Dunwoody, Georgia, is one of this year’s finalists. Sarv finished third last year as an 11-year-old fifth-grader.

Shrey Parikh, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Rancho Cucamonga, California, who finished third in 2024, also made it to the finals.

• Aiden Meng, 13, a seventh-grader from Danville, California
• Oliver Halkett, 14, an eighth-grader from Los Angeles
• Shrey Parikh, 14, an eighth-grader from Rancho Cucamonga, California
• Zwe Spacetime, 14, an eighth-grader from Washington, D.C.
• Sarv Dharavane, 12, a sixth-grader from Dunwoody, Georgia
• Ishaan Gupta, 12, a seventh-grader from Jersey City, New Jersey
• Kushi Gottimukkala, 13, a seventh-grader from Charlotte, North Carolina
• Avishka Dudala, 13, an eighth-grader from Dallas
• Logan Bailey, 12, a sixth-grader from Houston

The winner receives a custom trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Here are the prize payouts:

• First place: $52,500 in cash, reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, a custom trophy and commemorative medal, and $1,000 in flight credits from Delta Air Lines.
• Second place: $25,000.
• Third place: $15,000.
• Fourth place: $10,000.
• Fifth place: $5,000.
• Sixth place: $2,500.
• All other finalists: $2,000.