APTOPIX Spelling Bee

E.W. Scripps Company president and CEO Adam Symson, right, holds the trophy over winner of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee, Shrey Parikh, 14, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., at DAR Constitution Hall, Thursday, May 28, 2026, in Washington.

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Shrey Parikh bounces back, battles nerves and dominates spell-off to win the National Spelling Bee

Shrey Parikh bounces back, battles nerves and dominates spell-off to win the National Spelling Bee

Shrey Parikh has won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, beating Ishaan Gupta in a lightning-round tiebreaker. Shrey is a 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California. He finished third in 2024 but lost his school bee last year when he was battling a fever. He has dominated the bee circuit since. That included winning several online competitions against many of the same kids he outlasted this week in the nation’s capital. On Thursday night he turned a tense, high-quality final into a blowout. He raced through the 90-second spell-off and got 32 words right, a record for the format. Scripps later announced that “bromocriptine" was his winning word.