Shrey Parikh wins Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington

Shrey Parikh, 14, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, won the 98th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night by edging Ishaan Gupta of Jersey City, New Jersey, in a 90-second spell-off, 32 words to 25. The victory gave Parikh a $50,000 cash prize, the Scripps Cup and the kind of national recognition that has made the Bee a rare holdout in an era dominated by smartphones and A.I.

The final round unfolded at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., where the Bee returned for the first time in 15 years. The 2026 competition drew 247 spellers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 13 competitors from outside the 50 states, including a field Scripps described as especially deep. Before the spell-off decided the champion, the finalists opened with an 18-for-18 run that ended when Aiden Meng of Orinda, California, broke through in the second spelling round.

Parikh arrived as one of the favorites after finishing third in 2024 and building a strong record on the competitive spelling circuit, including wins in several online competitions against many of the same rivals he faced in Washington. His path also carried a more ordinary, and revealing, setback: he lost his school bee last year while battling a fever. That mix of elite preparation and family-level persistence has become part of what keeps the Bee culturally sticky. The competition still rewards hours of memorization, coaching and repetition, but it also depends on the behind-the-scenes logistics of parents, tutors and schools that can build a child into a national contender.

Parikh’s coaching team included Sam Evans, who has tutored each of the past three champions, and Sohum Sukhatankar, a 2019 co-champion. That support system reflects how specialized the Bee has become, with training that now stretches well beyond a classroom desk and into structured coaching networks and online practice. In a competition where 169 of the 247 spellers were first-timers, the depth of preparation was as striking as the nerves.

The Bee’s return to Washington also underscored its place in a larger American ritual. Held first in 1925 with just nine participants, the event was canceled during World War II and again in 2020. This year’s site was only the 10th in the Bee’s 101-year history, and its setting near the National Mall gave the competition a visual reminder that spelling still carries civic weight. Even in the age of instant search and predictive text, the Bee remains a stage where discipline, family infrastructure and the immigrant-upward-mobility story continue to command national attention.