2015

The 88th Scripps National Spelling Bee took place on May 28th, 2015. It was held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, and 285 spellers participated.

Vanya Shivashankar was the first sibling of a previous Champion to also win the Bee. Her sister Kavya won in 2009.

Learn more

About the 88th Bee

Champion

Gokul Venkatachalam

Chesterfield, Missouri

Gokul Venkatachalam, age 14, sponsored by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, won the $30,000 prize by correctly spelling the word “scherenschnitte.”

Winning Word

Scherenschnitte(n)

SHAY-run-shnit-uh

the art of cutting paper into decorative designs.

This word is from German.

Champion

Vanya Shivashankar

Olathe, Kansas

Vanya Shivashankar, age 13, sponsored by The Olathe News, won the $30,000 prize by correctly spelling the word “nunatak.”

Winning Word

Nunatak(n)

NUN-uh-tak

a hill or mountain completely surrounded by glacial ice.

This word is from Inuit.

Location

Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center

at the Maryland Ballroom

OFFICIALS

Directors

Paige P. Kimble

Judges

  • Mary Brooks
  • Blake Giddens
  • Dr. Ed Low
  • George Thampy

Pronouncers

  • Dr. Jacques Bailly
  • Dr. Brian Sietsema

SPELLER ROSTER

  • Caleb Adams
  • Debrinna-Meggie Alaia Su’a
  • Emily Alldrin
  • Gerardo Amaro
  • Selena Antosh
  • Ariana Babbitt
  • Trisha Balakrishnan
  • Cady Baltz
  • Razeen Basunia
  • Joseph Batis
  • Gia Lauren Bautista
  • Martius Bautista
  • Mark Beaulieu
  • Marcus Behling
  • Bates Bennett
  • Gracie Benton
  • Jack Benveniste-Plitt
  • Darius Bermudez
  • Tyler Berndt
  • Atharv Bhave
  • Brooke Biby
  • Lillian Bischof
  • Nicholas Bitar
  • Jasmine Black
  • Ashley Blakemore
  • River Blount
  • Mohamed Bouftas
  • Andrew Bowen
  • Neil Brahmbhatt
  • Kalika Bridwell
  • Nathaniel Britton
  • Allison Brower
  • Carson Brown
  • James Bryner
  • Gavin Buehler
  • Nolan Bunger
  • Kaelin Bunting
  • Rafael Caballero
  • Justine Calayo
  • Brennon Cavanagh
  • Natalie Cha
  • Jerilyn Challenger
  • Sai Vishudhi Chandrasekhar
  • Christopher Chang
  • Tiphanie Chang
  • Olivia Chen
  • Raffae Chowdhury
  • John Ciurla
  • Bettie Closs
  • Katie Collins
  • Muriel Cotman
  • Shobha Dasari
  • Meghna Datta
  • Annabelle Day
  • Selomi Dayaprema
  • Grant Decker
  • Sydney DeLapp
  • Shiv Dewan
  • Brody Dicks
  • Jessie Ditton
  • Bethany Doudna
  • Thomas Duck
  • Owen Dudley
  • Monica “Mollie” Dugan
  • Eric Errampalli
  • Catherine Raine Esparza
  • Edwin Estep
  • Christine Farnberg
  • Lela Festa
  • Oona Flood
  • Sean Fogerty
  • Kendall Foster
  • Andrew France
  • Audrey Frische
  • Jillian Fusi
  • Melina Gabele
  • Snehaa Ganesh Kumar
  • Emily Garcia
  • Hannah Gerlach
  • Hilary Good
  • Andrew Gould
  • Frank Grabowski
  • Aidan Graham
  • John Grifone
  • Kayleigh Guffey
  • Olivia Hajicek
  • Evan Haley
  • Charles Hamilton Jr.
  • Sophia Han
  • Muhammad Haris
  • Alexandra Harper
  • Bryce Harrell
  • Jairam Hathwar
  • Dylan Hembrough
  • Sophia Hoffman
  • Hailey Hogenson
  • Benjamin Hollis
  • Vince Hoppel
  • Sameera Hussain
  • Jenna-May Ingal
  • Phoebe Jackson
  • Arjun Jagjivan
  • Dev Jaiswal
  • Junah Jang
  • Emma Jankowski
  • Bill Jerdan
  • Christy Jestin
  • Abhirami Jeyaseelan
  • Mary Jo Johnson
  • Briana Joseph
  • Suin Jung
  • Linda Kalna
  • Arushi Kalpande
  • Srinithi Kanakam
  • Uma Kasichainula
  • Paul Keaton
  • Bryan Keck
  • Cameron Keith
  • Kaylee Kim
  • Eujine Kim
  • Jenna King
  • Brandon Kirkendall
  • Cade Klimek
  • Marleah Knights
  • Delaney Knoll
  • Cooper Komatsu
  • Owen Kovalik
  • Siddharth Krishnakumar
  • Lora Kuhaneck
  • Varun Kukkillaya
  • Summit Kumar
  • Anish Kumar
  • Trishala Kumar
  • Katrina La Madrid
  • Emily Ladines
  • Rehana Lalani
  • Shiv Lamba
  • Maggy Lambo
  • Sylvie Lamontagne
  • Megan Lavergne
  • Andrew Lazenby
  • Kyoko Leaman
  • Nicholas Lee
  • Eugene Lee
  • Charles Li
  • Ammy Lin
  • Rebecca Liu
  • Ti’el Lochridge
  • Jan Lomahan
  • Nevaeh Lopez
  • Lydia Loverin
  • Kushala Madduru
  • Monisha Mahadevan
  • Srinath Mahankali
  • Sheikh Mahmud
  • Anika Malayappan
  • Kiran Malik
  • Sravanth Malla
  • Sean Manuel
  • Caitlyn Marentette
  • Joshua Mason
  • Tamya Matthews
  • Julia McCoy
  • Sadie McFarland
  • Kassie McKnight
  • Sara-Beth McPherson
  • Lily Mears
  • Maxwell Meyer
  • Bernadette Miao
  • Neha Middela
  • Hayden Mildward
  • Joel Miles
  • Jack Miller
  • Siyona Mishra
  • Connor Mitchell
  • Naysa Modi
  • Meagan Moore
  • Bryce Morales
  • Tejas Muthusamy
  • Aditya Nadkarni
  • Manu Nair
  • Brandi Naprava
  • Aakash Narayan
  • Lipika Narisetti
  • Anna-Duyen Ngo
  • Tien Nguyen
  • Aahil Nishad
  • McKenna Noland
  • Ayush Noori
  • Aniket Nuthalapati
  • Liam Nyikos
  • Dylan O’Connor
  • Seungtaek Oh
  • Julia Oostema
  • Cy Orentlicher
  • Jeremy Ortmann
  • Akshra Paimagam
  • Keo Pangan
  • Jackson Parker
  • Shashwat Patel
  • Zander Patent
  • Olivia Pedigo
  • Samuel Pereles
  • Reese Perry
  • Abigail Pittman
  • Spencer Pogue
  • Stephen Ponzer
  • Ashwin Prasad
  • Lauryn Pugh
  • Munthira Raju
  • Sarika Rau
  • Ryan Rayos
  • Zander Reed
  • Christopher Relyea
  • Dray Remy
  • Madeline Rickert
  • Chloee Robison
  • Mitchell Robson
  • William Rogers
  • Jaren Rose
  • Ella Rosenkranz
  • Matthew Ross
  • Rohan Sachdev
  • Tristan Salinas
  • Sahil Sangwan
  • Ashwin Sankrithi
  • Marilyn Santo
  • Labiba Sardar
  • Nick Sarji
  • Jonathon Schafer
  • Allyson Scribner
  • Cole Shafer-Ray
  • Harshita Shet
  • Farzan Shiju
  • Vanya Shivashankar
  • Rosie Shultz
  • Tejas Shyamsundar
  • Tara Singh
  • Lauren Smith
  • Michael Sobol
  • Eesha Sohail
  • Lily Spalding
  • Neil St. John
  • Michael Steed
  • Ethan Stinson
  • Craig Storm
  • Lucinda Storz
  • Christine Sturgill
  • Vaishnavi Suren
  • Meera Suresh
  • Victor Sutton
  • Bryce Tasso
  • Daniel Taylor
  • Grant Taylor
  • Meimi Teeples
  • Vishal Thakwani
  • Jeffery Thompson
  • Sophia Thompson
  • Makayla Todman
  • Kasey Torres
  • Jacob Turner
  • Colleen Ung
  • Smrithi Upadhyayula
  • Ankita Vadiala
  • Ashrita Vadlapatla
  • Mary Elizabeth Vaughan
  • Rexen Venevongsoth
  • Gokul Venkatachalam
  • Annalise Wade
  • Marie Wallie
  • Katharine Wang
  • Greta Warner
  • Alotus Wei
  • Julia Weinrod
  • Mareike Western
  • Meagan White
  • JoJo Widi
  • Eliza Willett
  • Kelvin Winney
  • Zander Worm
  • William Yaeger
  • Michelle Yakubek
  • Abhilash Yarlagadda
  • Timothy Yue
  • Rebekah Zeigler

* Winner
** Runner-Up