1999

The 72nd Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee took place on June 3rd, 1999. It was held at the Grand Hyatt Washington, and 249 spellers participated.

This year’s Bee was documented in the film Spellbound, a critically-acclaimed documentary that followed the journeys of eight competitors to the National Competition.

Learn more

About the 72nd Bee

Champion

Nupur Lala

Tampa, Florida

Nupur Lala, age 14, sponsored by The Tampa Tribune, won the $10,000 prize by correctly spelling the word “logorrhea.”

Nupur is a neuro-oncologist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. She completed her internship and residency at Rhode Island Hospital-Brown University, and her fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Location

Grand Hyatt Washington

at the Independence Ballroom

Winning Word

logorrhea(n)

lahg-uh-REE-uh

pathologically excessive and often incoherent talkativeness.

This word is from Greek.

OFFICIALS

Directors

Paige P. Kimble

Judges

  • Leroy C. Dillard
  • Mary Brooks
  • Dr. Sandra C. Harrell
  • Dr. Ed Low
  • Linda Picard Wood
  • Blake Giddens

Pronouncers

  • Dr. Alex J. Cameron
  • Dr. Jacques Bailly

SPELLER ROSTER

  • Erin A. Abreu
  • Mark Albers
  • Daniel Albrecht
  • Mallory L. Alexin
  • Harry Altman
  • Kristen E. Ambersley
  • Angela Arenivar
  • Zachary Holland Baker
  • Justin Balletta
  • Lena Barouh
  • Charles Allen Beasley
  • Allen Beaver
  • Mary A. Beyer
  • David T. Biehl
  • Mike Bogobowicz
  • Marjorie Boivin
  • Sarah Boyce
  • Josef Braga
  • Ted Brigham
  • Paul A. Broyles III
  • Nathaniel Bryant
  • Jerel Bryant
  • Brian Buckley
  • Kathleen Burke
  • Christopher Butschek
  • Jarrett Calder
  • Cari Elizabeth Carson
  • Edwin Chen
  • Andy Cherolis
  • Jacob Chowpaknam
  • Ricardo Cigarroa
  • Kamilah Nicole Clenance
  • Emily Cole
  • Sean Conley
  • Bryce A. Cooney
  • Brent Covele
  • Leslie Crain
  • Jessemae L. Darby
  • Kyra Davies
  • Kristen Davis
  • Michael Dechert
  • April Ann DeGideo
  • Natalie DeMaioribus
  • Theresa M. DeMasters
  • Dean Lee Dieker
  • Dave DiLorenzo
  • Sarah Doyle
  • William Dunne
  • Fallon DuPlantis
  • Jeremy R. Eikenberry
  • Jason J. Espiritu
  • Shannon Farrell
  • Brad Feldman
  • Matthew Ferrier
  • Leah Fey
  • Kelly Lyn Flessner
  • Alexandra P. Flores
  • Ann Foley
  • Chelsea Cie Foran
  • Kerry Paul Friedel
  • Camilla Naomi Gersh
  • Candace D. Gibson
  • Elizabeth H. Gill
  • Edmund Gillett III
  • Sophia Nora Giordano
  • Daniel J. Glass
  • Katie Golden
  • Anu Gollapudi
  • Hannah Gomez
  • Laura A. Greene
  • Lindsay Gregory
  • Heidi Greimann
  • Julian Grybowski
  • David Hadaway
  • Kara Hadge
  • Mallory L. Hafer
  • Steven D. Hall
  • Emily Han
  • Erin Hanggee
  • Michael Hartwell
  • Kristin Hawkins
  • Nicole Marie Hepper
  • Eric D. Herman
  • Adam Herring
  • Timothy Higgins
  • Victoria Ho
  • Whitney B. Holcomb
  • Nicole Horn
  • Jana Howard
  • Jarrod Howard
  • Jane Hur
  • Stephen P. Hyslop
  • Valeria Irwin
  • Carla Izzo
  • Matthew Jachowski
  • Callie Jamar
  • Aaron Jennings
  • Ted Jeon
  • Garrett Jimenez
  • Michael Johnson
  • Jason J. Johnson
  • Jillian Johnson
  • Dan Joslyn
  • Neil R. Kadakia
  • Abdulwahab Kahsai
  • Courtney Christine Kaylor
  • Erin Kischuk
  • Siena Koncsol
  • Jenny Kreiger
  • Kavita Krishnasamy
  • Hannah Krug
  • Vinay Krupadev
  • Anisha Kshetrapal
  • Evan A. Kubota
  • Nupur Lala
  • Elizabeth Landreneau
  • Andrew Larson
  • Julie LeCleir
  • Melissa K. Lee
  • Tom E. Lennon
  • David Lewandowski
  • Shante Lewis
  • Dustin B. Liam
  • Allyson Lieberman
  • Ya-Nee Tiffany Lin
  • Benjamin R. Locklair
  • Zoe Londono
  • Kayla M. Lyssy
  • Joanna Mann
  • Bobby Ray Martin
  • Sadie Martin
  • Brian Mason
  • Claire Matthews
  • Sarah Matz
  • Karli McIntyre
  • Thomas Michaud
  • Ethan Miller
  • Geoff Misek
  • Stacey Moore
  • Deshea E. Morley
  • Andrea Morrison
  • Karie Morrison
  • Erica L. Mudd
  • Madeline Murphy
  • Carolyn Murphy
  • Sonia Nagala
  • Adam Naito
  • Adam Nakama
  • Ramsudha Narala
  • Matthew Nelson
  • Hayley Newcombe
  • Chieu Vu Nguyen
  • Nancy Nguyen
  • Marilyn Nguyen
  • Jacob Norton
  • Joy Nyenhuis
  • Timothy Olivieri
  • Alex Olsen
  • Ann Mary Olson
  • Gabrielle Maria Onder
  • Mike Ondrick
  • Dorothy Rose Owens
  • Sapna Padmanabhan
  • Cody Pagels
  • Emily Parker
  • Rohit Parulkar
  • Jay Patel
  • Samantha Pettit
  • Maria Soo Picone
  • Samuel Pittman
  • Samantha Porter
  • Ben Proshek
  • Herswin Raj
  • Jake Raju
  • Karthik Ramanathan
  • Ashwin Rao
  • Clara Raubertas
  • Brian Reitz
  • Angela L. Reyes
  • Kristina Rodriguez
  • John Hunter Rogers
  • Melissa Rogers
  • Leo Chris Romero
  • Zachary Rosenthal
  • Ashley Rowbury
  • Jessica Royal
  • Tobias J. Russell
  • Kristin Sargeant
  • Paul R. Say
  • George J. Schaertl
  • Dawn Schlabach
  • Amelia Schmidt
  • Cecilia Scott
  • Dipal P. Shah
  • Natasha Sharma
  • Andrew Shawhan
  • Angela Shears
  • Lora Shuliga
  • Sarah E. Sinnett
  • Angela K. Smiley
  • Joel T. Smith
  • Ashley Marie Smith
  • Julianne E. Smithwick
  • Zamantha Rosas Soto
  • Julian Spiegler
  • Emily Stagg
  • Scott Stahl
  • Morgan W. Stankey
  • Brittany Stephens
  • Erin Stewart
  • Alison Stone
  • Colin D. Stuart
  • Laura A. Stump
  • Kelsey Swaim
  • Richard H. Tapnio
  • Frances Taschuk
  • Greg Thaler
  • George Abraham Thampy
  • Meredith Thatcher
  • Clayton Thomas
  • Kyle Thomason
  • Stephanie Tobin
  • Marissa Toma
  • Russell Torres
  • Gregory Touney
  • Kyle L. Trujillo
  • Harsha Tummala
  • Annette Turegano
  • Chris Tyson
  • Afra Ullah
  • Marcus Urka
  • Miranda Veenhuysen
  • Michael Velcich
  • Erica Wade
  • Jeffrey Walden
  • John Ward
  • Matthew Watkins
  • Amanda Wells
  • Justin Wesolowski
  • Elise West
  • Ashley T. White
  • Aaron Wiener
  • Holly Wiese
  • Tessa L. Williams
  • Elizabeth Wood
  • Michael Yeranosian
  • Yan Zhong
  • Kelsey R. Zill

* Winner
** Runner-Up