2016

The 89th Scripps National Spelling Bee took place on May 26th, 2016. It was held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, and 283 spellers participated.

One of the 2016 Co-champions, Jairam Hathwar, is the brother of a previous Champion, Sriram Hathwar!

Learn more

About the 89th Bee

Champion

Jairam Hathwar

Painted Post, New York

Jairam Hathwar, age 13, sponsored by Corning Rotary Club, won the $40,000 prize by correctly spelling the word “Feldenkrais.”

Winning Word

Feldenkrais(tm)

FEL-dun-krahys

used for a system of aided body movements intended to increase body awareness and ease tension.

This word is a trademark.

Champion

Nihar Janga

Austin, Texas

Nihar Janga, age 11, sponsored by Houston Public Media, won the $40,000 prize by correctly spelling the word “gesellschaft.”

Winning Word

Gesellschaft(n)

guh-ZEL-shahft

a rationally developed mechanistic type of social relationship characterized by impersonally contracted associations between persons.

“Gesellschaft” is a German noun that describes a formal, impersonal social relationship typically found in modern, organized societies. Contrasted with more personal community ties, it’s often used in sociology to explain structures based on contracts or institutions. The word’s complex spelling and sociological significance posed a high-level challenge, successfully met by co-champion Nihar Janga.

This word is from German.

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

  • Ayyub Abdulrezak
  • Samantha Academia
  • Xoelis Acosta-Espada
  • Divya Aggarwal
  • Bassam Ahmed
  • Adam Akan
  • Chase Ake
  • Debrina Alai’a Su’a
  • Javier Alicea-Santiago
  • Mariana AlKhouri
  • Kellan All
  • Caroline Allen
  • Madelyn Almond
  • Afua Ansah
  • Brayden Armes
  • Camden Armstrong
  • Jessica Aubart
  • Aditya Badlani
  • Henry Banta
  • Martius Bautista
  • Mark Beaulieu
  • Logan Bell
  • Harmony Black
  • Chaunté Blackwood
  • Olivia Blanchette
  • Elijah Brewer
  • James Bryner
  • Melinda Buhlman
  • Robert Bundy
  • Abby Burton
  • Donovan Butler
  • Blake Cabral
  • Sarah Campbell
  • Luke Capper
  • Chloe Carlson
  • Lily Cassidy
  • Robert Castaneros
  • Rimas Chacar-Palubinskas
  • Srikar Chamarthi
  • Olivia Charles
  • Daniel Chen
  • Leonardo Chen
  • Jiming Chen, Jr.
  • Samuel Cheslik
  • Pavani Chittemsetty
  • William Cho
  • AJ Christian
  • Heehyun “Catherine” Chung
  • John Ciurla
  • Bettie Closs
  • Katie Collins
  • Miles Compani
  • Julian Connaughton
  • William Cooper
  • Jaffet Cruz
  • Mattie Cull
  • Shourav Dasari
  • Neil Dave
  • Grant Decker
  • Mira Dedhia
  • Sydney DeLapp
  • Shiv Dewan
  • Nico Dinglasa
  • Deuce Ditton
  • Casey Donahue
  • Mollie Dugan
  • Alette Eide
  • Gabriel Ennin
  • Chloe Epps
  • Robert Esposito
  • Edwin Estep
  • Landon Ethredge
  • Nabil Ettayebi
  • Katelyn Farmer
  • Nicola Ferguson
  • Lela Festa
  • Sam Fetters
  • Maria Fields
  • Natalie Floreancig
  • Nina Fonseca
  • Andrew France
  • Jasmina Frederico
  • Nicholas Gallegos
  • Rutvik Gandhasri
  • Snehaa Ganesh Kumar
  • Tara Ganguly
  • Luke Garcia
  • Savannah Gatts
  • Akshat Gautam
  • Hannah Gerlach
  • Ethan Gomulka
  • Michael Goss
  • Andrew Gould
  • Veronica Goveas
  • Vasundara Govindarajan
  • Marin Gray
  • Logan Gregg
  • Logan Griggs
  • Kayleigh Guffey
  • Syra Gutow
  • Olivia Hajicek
  • Riley Hamp
  • Tristan Hankins
  • Rabya Hasnain
  • Jairam Hathwar
  • Henry Hein
  • Hailey Hemmingsen
  • Allison Henry
  • Sophia Hoffman
  • Hailey Hogenson
  • Kyra Holland
  • Benjamin Hollis
  • Erin Howard
  • Zachary Hunsaker
  • Juliana Hunt
  • Ali Hussain
  • Sameera Hussain
  • Alex Iyer
  • Rohan Jakhete
  • Bria James
  • Nihar Janga
  • Nathan Jarrett
  • Haley Jeffers
  • Chloe Johnson
  • Charity-Dakota Jordan
  • Kharyl Judith
  • Amy Jung
  • Riki Kaiser
  • Arushi Kalpande
  • Musa Karriem
  • Rishubh Kaushal
  • Bryan Keck
  • Cameron Keith
  • Peter Khoudary
  • Sarah Khoury
  • Raphael Kim
  • Eric Kim
  • Kaylee Kim
  • Anna Kleist
  • Ariel Kokoricha
  • Vivek Kolli
  • Cooper Komatsu
  • Owen Kovalik
  • Matthew Krupka
  • Storrie Kulynych-Irvin
  • Sidaarth Kumarevel
  • Sylvie Lamontagne
  • Jasmyne Le
  • Declan Leach
  • Benjamin Lee
  • Ammy Lin
  • Samuel Littrell
  • Rebecca Liu
  • Lizzie Lucas
  • Neil Maes
  • Srinath Mahankali
  • Justin Malabanan
  • Kiran Malik
  • Sravanth Malla
  • Zachary Mallol
  • Bhanu Teja Mamillapalli
  • Alyssa Mangio
  • Maya Matava
  • Will McCollom
  • Alaina McDuffie
  • Jacob McKim
  • Maxwell Meyer
  • Jack Miller
  • Katie Mills
  • Kael Miranda
  • Aiden Mischley
  • Dhyana Mishra
  • Patrick Mitchell
  • Rika Mizoguchi
  • Naysa Modi
  • Ammaar Mohammed
  • Jake Montgomery
  • Lucas Mooney
  • Adeline Moore
  • Rachel Mueller
  • Vipanchi Mungara
  • Tejas Muthusamy
  • Aakash Narayan
  • Lipika Narisetti
  • Tanuja Nath
  • Christopher Netzel
  • Thalia Nguyen
  • McKenna Noland
  • Ayush Noori
  • Kaitlyn O’Bryan
  • Leila Overbeek
  • Cerulean Ozarow
  • Shruthika Padhy
  • Ramon Padua Jr.
  • Jashun Paluru
  • Sagar Pandit
  • Santino Panzica
  • Soyeon Park
  • Ved Patel
  • Shashwat Patel
  • Simran Patibanda
  • Samuel Paul
  • Hannah Norliyn May Pengosro
  • Marshall Pentes
  • Ella Peters
  • Josiah Pinkerton
  • Abigail Pittman
  • Tharein Potuhera
  • Ashwin Prasad
  • Mir Quddus
  • Nilla Rajan
  • Dwaritha Ramesh
  • Bret Ramirez
  • Aisha Randhawa
  • Ponvarshini Ravi
  • Zander Reed
  • Colby Reese
  • Dylan Reid
  • Christopher Relyea
  • Mitchell Robson
  • Natalia Rosen
  • Rachel Rowe
  • Cassie Rust
  • Sarah Rye
  • Rahul Sachdev
  • Amrith Samuel
  • Marlene Schaff
  • Tirzah Schanding
  • Ella Scheuermann
  • Gracie Schroeder
  • Danielle Serrao
  • Syaal Sharifzad
  • Harshita Shet
  • Deven Sheth
  • Rosie Shultz
  • Amanda Sia
  • Saif Siddiquee
  • Tara Singh
  • Kyle Skinner
  • Alexandra Snyder
  • Kodai Speich
  • Sarah Spencer
  • Katherine Spitzer
  • Tommy Spurlin
  • Aditi Sridhar
  • Ryan Staton
  • Asa Stevens
  • Lucinda Storz
  • Emily Sun
  • Saketh Sundar
  • Asritha Sure
  • Claire Thomas
  • Makayla Todman
  • Kathy Tran
  • Kyla Truong
  • Emma Tsou
  • Clarisse Tudon
  • Larisa Tuttle
  • Snehalsai Ujjina
  • Smrithi Upadhyayula
  • Una VanWynsberghe
  • Eva Vega
  • Rexen Venevongsoth
  • Aanjaneyaa Venkataraman
  • Ananya Vinay
  • Vanya Virmani
  • Sreeniketh Vogoti
  • Connor Voorhees
  • Akash Vukoti
  • Lauren Walker
  • Ameera Waterford
  • Brady Watson
  • Elise Weier
  • Sunshine Wheeler
  • Peyton Wiewel
  • Eliza Willett
  • Jacob Williams
  • Nicholas Wilson
  • Nick Winkelman
  • Zander Worm
  • Abigail Worstell
  • Luke Yap
  • Shiva Yeshlur
  • Rebekah Zeigler
  • Lawrence Zhang

* Winner
** Runner-Up