A 14-year-old teenager from California has won the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee, after three days of competition at Washington’s Constitution Hall.
Shrey Parikh won out against 247 spellers competing in the annual contest, aged between nine and 15, taking home a $52,000 (£39,000) cash prize.
The 101-year-old contest reached its conclusion on Thursday night, with the final nine taking to the stage in front of family and friends for a shot at the illustrious trophy.
The final two contestants went head to head, spelling as many words as they could in 90 seconds. Shrey correctly spelled 32 words in the allotted time frame, with “cashaw”, a type of pumpkin, declared his winning word.
He defeated Ishaan Gupta, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Jersey City, New Jersey, who got 25 words correct from the same list.
Underneath his calm demeanour, Shrey said he had worried early on in the contest, “because I knew the word, but, you know, when you’re on stage you always kind of doubt yourself, so I’m glad I just stuck with my gut and got it right”.
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