2004

The 77th Scripps National Spelling Bee took place on June 3rd, 2004. It was held at the Grand Hyatt Washington, and 265 spellers participated.

This year for the first time, spellers were given a strict two-minute time limit per turn, with a one-time chance to request a bonus minute.

Learn more

About the 77th Bee

Champion

David Scott Pilarski Tidmarsh

South Bend, Indiana

David Scott Pilarski Tidmarsh, age 14, sponsored by the South Bend Tribune, won the $12,000 prize by correctly spelling the word “autochthonous.”

David received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University and his master’s degree from the University of Texas. He became a teaching assistant for graduate courses at the University of Texas.

Location

Grand Hyatt Washington

at the Independence Ballroom

Winning Word

autochthonous(adj)

ah-TAHK-thuh-nus

indigenous, native, aboriginal—used especially of floras and faunas.

This word is from Greek.

OFFICIALS

Directors

Paige P. Kimble

Judges

  • Mary Brooks
  • Dr. Sandra C. Harrell
  • Dr. Ed Low
  • Blake Giddens
  • Dr. Michelle M. Mehta

Pronouncers

  • Dr. Jacques Bailly
  • Dr. Brian Sietsema

SPELLER ROSTERS

  • Kamron Alford
  • Charley Allegar
  • Elizabeth Anne Allen
  • Nicole Christine Allison
  • Nidharshan Subra Anandasivam
  • Dawn Song Anderson
  • Whitney Paige Anderson
  • Joseph Trevor Antley
  • John A. Ausick
  • Jake D. Ayers
  • Lina M Bader
  • Stephanie M. Baer
  • Michelle Yvette Bak
  • Anoopdeep Singh Bal
  • Michael Philip Baldassari
  • Quintin Fitzgerald Beechum
  • Aaron Thomas Bekemeyer
  • Sophia M. Bender
  • Michael T. Benich
  • Garrett M. Biedermann
  • Jennifer Eileen Black
  • Charlotte Mary Blacklock
  • Alexander H. Bohurat
  • Chloe L. Bordewich
  • Priyanka Bose
  • Kevin Bowes
  • Laura Ann Brown
  • Ben K. Brown
  • Katie L. Brown
  • Akshay Buddiga
  • Julian David Calvin
  • Caitlen E. Campbell
  • Ariel Bell Carpenter
  • Elicia C. Chamberlin
  • Saptarshi Chaudhuri
  • Rebecca L. Chen
  • David Chen
  • Coburn Kirby Childs
  • Justin Chun
  • Coralie Rose Clark
  • Erin M. Clendaniel
  • Katharine Close
  • Brenna Ann Cobb
  • Jess Clayton Cole
  • Lorri L. Cole
  • Claudia Eileen Collins
  • Cody W. Collins
  • Lucas Copi
  • Katherine F. Cross
  • Sarah Ann Daigle
  • Joshua H. Dawsey
  • Aliya R. Deri
  • Stephanie Teresa DeSouza
  • Jamie Ding
  • Kimberly A. Doudna
  • Holly Katrine Duitsman
  • Shekar Saihari Dukkipati
  • Alanna G. Durkin
  • Kirstin Celeste Early
  • Dovie Eisner
  • Dominic Ranz Ebarle Errazo
  • Marissa Lyn Estep
  • Abigail “Abby” Eustace
  • Tyler S. Evans
  • Matthew C. Evans
  • Jordan Lyle Fayne
  • Blaine A. Ford
  • Amanda Claire Foy
  • Kendra lea Frazier
  • Shane A. Freebourn
  • Matias P. Gassman
  • Derek Matthew Gavorcik
  • Zachary D. Gillooly
  • Ashwini A. Gokhale
  • Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan
  • Melissa L. Gracia
  • Anton Thomas Grahame
  • Josiah Gary Graves
  • Mason Green
  • Cornel Andre Grey
  • Matthew Lawrence Grunert
  • Abhiram D. Gunturi
  • Angelina Chantelle Gurney
  • Jonathan Isaac Hahn
  • Shana M. Hakanson
  • Courtney E. Harnett
  • Amanda E. Harney
  • Timothy Harris
  • Cheyanna Lyn Harter
  • Stephanie Marie Hayman
  • Athena Deren Heck
  • Stephanie L. Henderson
  • Rachel Lee Hernandez
  • Aaron W. Ho
  • Nicole Marie Hodges
  • Austin W. Hoke
  • Saryn Rebecca Hooks
  • George A. Hornedo
  • Heather Elaine Howell
  • James Hsieh
  • Joseph A. Huey
  • Esther Hur
  • Jessy J. Hwang
  • Mallory E. Irwinsy
  • Matthew V. Jenny
  • Ethan Joseph Johnson
  • Hope Renee Johnson
  • Jessica Lynn Johnson
  • Cooper F. Johnson
  • Ashleigh Johnson
  • Gemel Amelia Joseph
  • Andrew Lokomaikaikeakua Kaleohano
  • Rachel S. Karas
  • Anurag Kashyap
  • Joseph “Joe” John Keefer
  • Max Keister
  • Amber Lynn Key-Murphy
  • Emily Michelle Kilgore
  • Claire Kim
  • Song Lee Kim
  • Maddy Kloss
  • Dakota Seth Koll
  • Zachary Alan Carlson Kuzel
  • Jamie J. Lain
  • Gwendolyn Janel Larson
  • Adina R. Laury
  • Abraham H. Lee
  • Asta E. Lee
  • David Michael Lee
  • Bridget Lynn Lee
  • Trevor Leslie
  • Emma B. Levenson
  • Hadassah Priscilla Lighty
  • Amanda P. Ly
  • Steven Nicholas Maheshwary
  • Nicholas J. Marcucci
  • Samantha Tan Mascia
  • Meg D. Mathis
  • Brooke McDowell
  • Morgan Gabriel McGee
  • Zachary D. McMahon
  • Amar Asha Mehta
  • Grace K. Meikle
  • Juan Jose Mejia
  • Ariana Liz Melendez
  • Eric Michael Milovac
  • John Minnich
  • Shruti Mishra
  • Arjun R. Modi
  • Jung Meng Mour
  • Shashank S. Nayak
  • Katie Nespor
  • Croix Newson
  • Meredith M. Nichter
  • Lana Van Niekerk
  • Claire Nieman
  • Glen Noworyta
  • Kyle D. Ofori
  • Allison M. Ohlin
  • Katie Elizabeth Campbell Olson
  • Elliott P. Orr
  • Silas Orteza
  • John D. Oxenreiter Jr.
  • Angela Mayo Palomer
  • Biblap Panda
  • Irene Y. Park
  • James M. Parkkonen
  • King John G. Pascual
  • Ezra-Mel B. Pasikatan
  • Samir Sudhir Patel
  • Michael Shane Paynter
  • Keshav Krishna Pillai
  • Nora Porter
  • Olivia Powell
  • Catherine Marie Powell
  • Tricia Ann Powles
  • Mehron H. Price
  • Hannah Grace Provenza
  • Cassie Marie Quan
  • Sachin Raghunathan
  • Shankari Vani Rajagopal
  • Aneesh Rajmaira
  • Alisha Diana Ramos
  • Paul Rapoport
  • Nilesh K. Raval
  • Grant Newton Remmen
  • Lauren Retzloff
  • Owen Ricker
  • Christoph Riddle
  • Maggie Lindsay Riffel
  • Alyssa Lynn Roberts
  • Lincoln Tyler Robinson
  • Samantha E. Rock
  • Graham P. Roese
  • Christos M. Romanas
  • Christopher Ross
  • Cassiopeia Roychowdhury
  • Adriana Michelle Ruf
  • Emily L. Rutherford
  • Sean Justin B. Sabino
  • Kay Sackinger
  • Joeanne Marie Mahinay Salise
  • John Sargeant
  • Jes E. Sasko
  • Megan R. Schaefer
  • Meagan M. Schaeffner
  • Lucas Anthony Schairer
  • Carl J. Schwager
  • Pooja Shah
  • Joe Shepherd
  • Grant Sherman
  • William Nathan Sherrill
  • Bailey Madison Shoemaker Richards
  • Brenda Nicole shultis
  • Jasmine I. Siefman
  • Taysha Pualei Silva
  • Shelby Brianne Smith
  • Justin Lloyd Squire
  • Raghav Srinivasan
  • Christopher Charles Stahl
  • Matthew Stein
  • Alexander Christian Stephens
  • Amy Breneman Stewart
  • Kymberly L. Stone
  • Marty Alexander Strauss
  • Snigdha Surapaneni
  • Sahiti Surapaneni
  • Keagan M. Tafler
  • John Louis Tandy Tamplin
  • Rajiv Tarigopula
  • Jennifer Elyse Tate
  • Matthew Thomas
  • Tia Natasha-Elizabeth Thomas
  • David Scott Tidmarsh
  • Alan W. Tilley
  • Kaleigh N. Tinkle
  • Jacob Bruce Trewartha
  • Nicholas James Truelson
  • Boyce C. Tyler
  • Aqsa Ullah
  • Rose Marie Van Ryckeghem
  • Heather Elizabeth van Stolk
  • Miranda Shayleen VanPelt
  • Kristina Renee Vardeman
  • Nektarios Vasilottos
  • Anneika M. Verghese
  • Umer Nisar Vohra
  • Yiping Wang
  • Cody O. Wendt
  • Bryan Christopher White
  • Matthew C. White
  • Rachel A. Wilson
  • Marshall K. Winchester
  • Brody J. Winn
  • Betsy A. Woodruff
  • Ginny Wu
  • Bethany K. Wyman
  • Nathan Jun Yang
  • Anne Z. Ye
  • Cindy Yin
  • Megan Elizabeth Yontz
  • Brady Jay Yoon
  • Kendra Y. Yoshinaga
  • Sarah Zinn
  • Erik Zyman-Carrasco

* Winner
** Runner-Up