LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The Scripps National Spelling Bee has been around since 1925. The prestigious competition that puts the knowledge of the English language to the test is a spectacle for the viewers but pits some of the best young minds in the US against each other. Often referred to as the "Olympics of Language,” the 95th edition of the competition will see 231 elementary and middle school students in 2023. The contestants are as young as 9 and as old as 14.
There are spellers from all 50 US states, and 11 students from the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico. It is to be noted that there are more than 180 first-timers, and 49 are returning contestants. There are four stages of the competition which include the preliminary rounds, quarterfinals, semifinals, and eventually, the finals. But before a new winner is chosen, let’s look at some of the accomplishments of the past winners and where they are at present.
Harini Logan (2022)
The winner of the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee was decided by a spell-off between Harini Logan and Vikram Raju. Both had 90 seconds to correctly spell as many words as they could. In the end, 14-year-old Harini won with 21 of 26 words spelled correctly while Vikram, was the runner-up with 15 of 19 correct words. For now, Harini is in Grade 8, attending St Mary’s Hall in San Antonio Texas.
Zaila Avant-Garde (2021)
Most of the 2021 edition of the completion was held virtually. Only the finals among 11 contestants were held in person. A 14-year-old named Zaila Avant-garde won the competition by spelling “Murraya” correctly. She became the first Black American contestant to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee and the second Black champion after Jody-Anne Maxwell. Zaila is now an author and has written a non-fiction book titled, ‘It's Not Bragging If It's True: How to Be Awesome at Life.’ Zaila is only focused on playing college basketball and also dreams of working in fields such as neuroscience, forensics, or molecular biology.
Rishik Gandhasri, Erin Howard, Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Sohum Sukhatankar, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao & Rohan Raja (2019)
The 92nd edition of the competition saw an unprecedented eight-way tie. Five grueling rounds saw all eight contestants refusing to back down as it all was tied by the end. Serrao is currently studying at Readington Middle School while Erin will be taking travel writing classes at Vanderbilt University.
Karthik Nemmani (2018)
Hailing from Texas, the then eighth-grader, Karthik Nemmani swept the competition magnificently after he entered through a new program called ‘RSVBee’, which allows spellers who didn't win a regional bee or didn't have a sponsor a chance to compete with the best. Currently, Karthik is studying Computer Science at the University of Texas and describes himself as an experienced programmer specializing in both front-end and back-end programming.
Ananya Vinay (2017)
Ananya Vinay, a 12-year-old girl at the time from the Indian-American community took a $40,000 cash prize when she spelled “marocain” correctly. She became the 13th consecutive winner from the community and is now pursuing her Bachelor's in Neuroscience from Pomona College in Claremont, California. She’s also a staff writer at The Iris News, a newspaper based in New York.
Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Saireddy Janga (2016)
Jairam and Nihar lifted the trophy back in 2016 as Nihar became the youngest spelling bee winner ever. Nihar then went on to win both the National Spelling Bee and the National Geographic GeoBee in 2019 as well.
Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam (2015)
Vanya and Gokul won the competition in 2015. Vanya’s sister, Kavya had already won the completion back in 2009, inspiring Vanya to take up the task. Vanya is currently studying cognitive science at Yale University and had worked with ESPN on promo videos in the past. She’s also prepping to become an emcee.
Arvind Mahankali (2013)
Arvind Mahankali of Bayside Hills, New York was unmoved when he won the competition back in 2013. The then 13-year-old spelled “knaidel” to take home the national title and prize money of $30,000. He received the Goldwater Scholarship at Carnegie Mellon University to study Computer Science as he considers a second major in Mathematics.
Honorable mentions
Susan Yoachum (1969)
After winning the spelling bee in 1969, Susan Yoachum went on to become a journalist and was part of a San Jose Mercury News team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989. She then later became political editor of The San Francisco Chronicle.
Barrie Trinkle (1973)
Barrie Trinkle went to MIT, worked as an aerospace engineer for more than a decade at NASA's Jet Propulsion lab, and then pivoted towards writing. Barrie also wrote a book titled ‘How to spell like a Champ’ and serves as a consultant to Spelling Bee.
