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The Scripps National Spelling Bee (formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and commonly called the National Spelling Bee) is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. The competition began in 1925, and was initially organized by The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, until the Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company (now the E. W. Scripps Company) assumed sponsorship in 1941. Every speller in the competition has previously participated in a local spelling bee, usually organized by a local newspaper.

The first champion was Frank Neuhauser of Louisville, who beat eight other finalists to win the inaugural competition. He was honored with a parade in his hometown, where and when he was presented with bouquets of gladioli in commemoration of the winning word "gladiolus", and returned to the Bee a number of times as a guest of honor. The first girl to win was Pauline Bell, also of Louisville, the following year. Girls won nine consecutive competitions from 1932 to 1940. Joint winners have been crowned on seven occasions in the Bee's history. The first such occurrence was in 1950, when Dean Colquitt and Diana Reynard were declared co-champions after the contestants had exhausted the list of available words. In both 1957 and 1962 joint champions were declared when both remaining contestants spelled the same word incorrectly. After three consecutive ties between 2014 and 2016, a written tiebreaker round was introduced, but it was discontinued for the 2019 Bee, which subsequently resulted in an unprecedented eight-way tie when the organizers ended the final session after the remaining contestants had completed five consecutive perfect rounds.

Although the competition is titled "National", it is not restricted to spellers from the United States. In 1998, Jody-Anne Maxwell from Jamaica became the first speller from outside the US to win the Bee, as well as the first black winner. In recent decades the competition has been dominated by Indian-American students. Although people of South Asian origin make up less than one percent of the U.S. population, the vast majority of the winners since 1999, including all fourteen champions between 2008–2018 and seven of the eight co-champions in 2019, have come from the South Asian community. One such speller, Nihar Janga from Austin, Texas, became the youngest champion in the Bee's history when he won the title in 2016 at the age of 11. The 93rd Scripps National Spelling Bee was the first time that an African-American (Zaila Avant-garde) became the champion and only the second time that the champion was a black person.

The competition was not held from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II. The 2020 competition was canceled due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Champions

Notes

1. ^ Spelled more words correctly in the 90 second spell-off.

References

1. ^ "Spelling Bee: Record eight children win Scripps National in the US". BBC News. May 31, 2019. Archived from the original on June 8, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
2. "History". Scripps National Spelling Bee. Archived from the original on May 31, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
3. ^ Fox, Margalit (March 22, 2011). "Frank Neuhauser, a Speller's Speller, Dies at 97". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
4. "Gnarled with a "K"". Time. June 5, 1950. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
5. "O-R-D-E-A-L in Washington". Time. June 17, 1957. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
6. "Spelling Bee Is Called Draw". Kentucky New Era. June 7, 1962. Archived from the original on July 22, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
7. Nuckols, Ben (May 1, 2019). "National Spelling Bee ditches its tiebreaker". The Columbian. Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
8. Zimmer, Ben (May 31, 2019). "How Eight Middle Schoolers Toppled the Scripps Spelling Bee". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
9. Archibold, Randal (May 29, 1998). "Placed in the Shadows By a Chiaroscurist". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
10. "Jamaican Girl Crowned National Spelling Champ". CNN. May 28, 1998. Archived from the original on February 13, 2008. Retrieved March 7, 2008.
11. "Spelling Her Way to Success". Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. May 1998. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
12. ^ Basu, Moni (May 29, 2015). "Why South Asians win spelling bees: P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E". CNN. Archived from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
13. Garcia, Feliks (May 27, 2016). "National Spelling Bee crowns youngest champion in history". The Independent. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
14. Alicia Lee (April 21, 2020). "National Spelling Bee canceled for the first time since WWII". CNN. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
15. ^ "About the Bee". Scripps National Spelling Bee. Archived from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.

External links

• spellingbee.com, the official website of the Scripps National Spelling Bee

• English orthography
• Lists of people by activity
• Scripps National Spelling Bee participants
• Spelling bee champions