2025

The 97th Scripps National Spelling Bee took place on May 29th, 2025. It was held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, and 242 spellers participated.

In 2025, the Bee celebrated its 100th anniversary throughout Bee Week with events and activities, including a museum exhibit called More Than Words and Bee-Con, a poster-signing event for spellers that 40 former spelling bee champions participated in.

About the 97th Bee

Champion

Faizan Zaki

Dallas, Texas

Faizan Zaki, age 13, sponsored by the Dallas Sports Commission, won the $50,000 prize by correctly spelling the word “éclaircissement.”

Location

Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center

at the Maryland Ballroom

Winning Word

éclaircissement(n)

ay-kler-sees-mahn

the clearing up of something obscure : enlightenment.

This word was formed in French from originally Latin elements before becoming English.

OFFICIALS

Directors

Corrie Loeffler

Judges

  • Mary Brooks
  • Barrie Trinkle
  • Ben Zimmer
  • Dr. Kavya Shivashankar
  • George Thampy
  • Sameer Mishra
  • Peter Sokolowski
  • Kristin Hawkins

Pronouncers

  • Christian Axelgard
  • Dr. Brian Sietsema
  • Dr. Kevin Moch
  • Dr. Jacques Bailly

SPELLER ROSTER

  • Jarah Abarquez
  • Hadi Abbasi
  • Abigail Adegbite
  • Aadhya Adhikari
  • Giovanni Adjei
  • Anjali Agarwal
  • Ananya Aggarwal
  • Krrisha Agrawal
  • Gabriel Aguirre
  • Sach Akella
  • Joey Anandh
  • Caroline Andrus
  • Chidu Anumele
  • Louis Avetis
  • Shruthi Ayyagari
  • Rithvi Balajee
  • Kamya Balaji
  • Aarav Balani
  • Swetank Bangaru
  • Layla Barrett
  • Megan Barrientos
  • Ibrahim Beck
  • Hiro Bernhardsson
  • Vishva Bharath
  • Arya Bhavansikar
  • Blaze Blacketer
  • Chev Bondoc
  • Maureen Bone
  • Swayzee Brown
  • Ashley Bryner
  • Emmaline Bushman
  • Thevaan Butani
  • Rian Camty
  • Izzy Canada
  • Isaac Cancio
  • Sara Chen
  • Divya Choudhary
  • Vincent Chu
  • Jason Chukwuma-Eze
  • Mason Coulthard
  • Elliott Covelle
  • Harper Cox
  • Rowena Cresswell-Blickley
  • Bria  Curry
  • Khusi Dahal
  • Minna Danziger
  • Sara Daoud
  • Nicasio David
  • Cecily Dean
  • Sarv Dharavane
  • Ishika Dirisala
  • John Donato
  • Avishka Dudala
  • Evan Fahie
  • Margot Fieni
  • Esme Filippo
  • Andrew Ford
  • Josephine Frimpong
  • William Fuller
  • Leo Furlong
  • Diego Gallegos
  • Ainsley Gastmeier
  • Amanuel Gemechis
  • Isaac Geremew
  • Adele Gibbens
  • Sebastian Gil
  • Caleb Giuoco
  • Jaden Go
  • Holden Good
  • Kushi Gottimukkala
  • James Granger
  • Rory Grant
  • Madison Gray
  • Beckett Griffin
  • Ishaan Gupta
  • Antonella Guzman-Vazquez
  • Kaden Haddox
  • Oliver Halkett
  • Josslyn Hansen
  • Will Henley
  • Majo Hernandez-Zamora
  • Naqeeb Hossain
  • Charlie Huang
  • Annika Huang
  • Siara Husain
  • Sharon Hwang
  • Leya Ismail
  • Disha Jain
  • Ahaan Jain
  • Elias Javelona
  • Eli Jernigan
  • Lindsey Jessen
  • Jayden Jiang
  • Suhani Joshi
  • Sarvadnya Kadam
  • Vidula Kalathur
  • Aishwarya Kallakuri
  • Siyona Kandala
  • Sharanya Kar
  • Quint Karlsson
  • Sagan Karthikeyan
  • Roshan Kaushik
  • Joseph Keffer
  • Sasha Kenlon
  • Seren Kim
  • Gemma Kim
  • Tyler Kochanski
  • Nicholas Kokhan
  • Priya Konduru
  • Vlada Kozhevnikova
  • Vittal Krishnamurthy
  • Hannah Kuo
  • Brett Kuprowicz
  • Julia Kurien
  • Kira Lau
  • Reed Laursen
  • Aren Lee
  • Keith Lee
  • Victoria Li
  • Blanche Li
  • Natalie Linthicum
  • Olivia Lipiec
  • Miles Little
  • Brian Liu
  • Josiah Loehrke
  • Sapna Malhotra
  • Declan Mallady
  • Sanvi Mandvekar
  • Alejandro Martinez
  • Jacob Martonito
  • Moksh Maru
  • Esha Marupudi
  • Cora Massaro
  • Maia Mathai
  • Kendall Mehl
  • Aiden Meng
  • Lauren Merillana
  • Juliet Merrill
  • Alanur Mescioglu
  • Arpith Mishra
  • Yahya Mohammed
  • Charles Mueller-Thompson
  • Harini Murali
  • Sonu Murali Mohan
  • Nargiza Muzhapaer
  • Zander Myers
  • Tarini Nandakumar
  • Jay Nayak
  • Eli Neibart
  • Phoenix Newell
  • Luke Nguyen
  • Nirav Nimbarte
  • Luke Noblezada
  • Connor Norton
  • Duaa Ouznali
  • Elliana Pagliarini
  • Daniela Lucia Pappalardo
  • Arnie Parat
  • Katie Park
  • Kunal Patel
  • Rujva Patel
  • Krish Patel
  • Snigdha Pati
  • Enzo Paylaga
  • Yuva Peddireddy
  • Carter Peterson
  • Avinav Prem Anand
  • Cyleane Quansah
  • Ved Raju
  • Nikita Ramakrishnan
  • Zachary Rara
  • Salman Rashid
  • Bindi Ray
  • Aruuke Rayeva
  • Brighid Reid
  • Samuel Riley
  • Leah Rini
  • Naira Rivas
  • Ethan Robert
  • Jane Ross
  • Daniel Rotem
  • Johannes Roxburgh
  • Amazing-Grace Salami
  • Wade Salvey
  • Simran Sanders
  • Charvitha Sanjaya
  • Aarav Sargurunathan
  • Visharad Sathish
  • Eli Schlosser
  • Sophia Schoenrock
  • Kolin Schuler
  • Eliza Schwass
  • Ryan Sekera
  • Nathan Settevendemie
  • Nikhil Sha
  • Arshan Shahriar
  • Arnav Sharma
  • Owen Shirey
  • Sree Vidya Siliveri
  • Navtaj Singh
  • Shreeya Sivakumar
  • Akshaj Somisetty
  • Zwe Spacetime
  • Ike Sperling
  • Aurora Spisak
  • Shruthi Srinivasan
  • Micah Sterling
  • Anya Stoll
  • Kavin Suriya Prakash
  • Viky Tanamala
  • Zachary Teoh
  • Michael Tesfaye
  • Zachary Thurnher
  • Raian Timur
  • Scott Tingle
  • Sumukh Tirumalasetty
  • Sariah Titus
  • Anaya Tonde
  • Sydney Tran
  • Chilaka Ugobi
  • Caroline Van Garsse
  • Kavya Vasudeva
  • Brihasa Veduru
  • Adarsh Venkannagari
  • Josh Verma
  • Alleena Villaluz
  • Angeline Wang
  • David Wang
  • Ruby Wang
  • Audrey Ware
  • George Weghorst
  • Christopher Werito
  • Aiden Westover
  • Noah White
  • Beatriz Whitford-Rodríguez
  • Elden Wier
  • Lawrence Ye
  • Zach Yeager
  • Malek Youssri
  • Shreyansh Zadoo
  • Faizan Zaki
  • Parker Zimmerly

* Winner
** Runner-Up