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Shrey Parikh has been crowned the winner of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee as the competition ended in a dramatic Spell-Off.Shrey, 14, nailed 32 words against runner-up Ishaan Gupta's 25.The winning word was "bromocriptine," which is "a polypeptide alkaloid that is a derivative of ergot and mimics the activity of dopamine."The San Bernardino, California, native will take home $52,500, the Scripps Cup, a commemorative medal and other prizes.The auditorium was packed with spectators roaring as Shrey was named the winner.Scripps officials presented the speller with the iconic trophy, a ceramic piece made by Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati, Ohio.The final two went head-to-head in a Spell-Off to conclude the finals.The Spell-Off was introduced in 2021. Each speller had 90 seconds to spell as many words as possible. As one participant competed, the other was sequestered with headphones on, unable to hear the words being read.The judges presented the same words read in the same order. The winner was the participant who correctly spelled the most words.Nine finalists competed for the chance to call themselves the spelling champion at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, on May 28. It's the first time the bee had been held in the nation's capital in 15 years.The other finalists were: Oliver Halkett, of Los Angeles; Zwe Spacetime, of Washington, DC.; Kushi Gottimukkala, of Charlotte, North Carolina; Avishka Dudala, of Dallas; Aiden Meng, of Danville, California; Sarv Dharavane, of Tucker, Georgia, and Logan Bailey, of Houston.Eight of the nine finalists had appeared in previous Scripps National Spelling Bees, and three had advanced to the finals in earlier appearances, according to Scripps.Aiden opened the competition with the word "essoinee." He was the first to be eliminated in the third round after fumbling "catometope." Oliver was second, Zwe was the third, Avishka was fourth, Logan was fifth and Kushi was sixth.Some of the hardest words of the night included cara sposa and quincke tube.Then it all came down to the final two: Ishaan and Shrey.Who is Shrey Parikh?The teenager previously competed in the National Bee in 2024, when he tied for third place, and 2022 when he tied for 89th place, according to Scripps.His favorite word is "muntjac," which is "any of a genus of small deer of southeastern Asia."The speller plays a myriad of instruments, including snare drum, bass drum, timpani, toms, break drum, triangle, glockenspiel and marimba. To prepare for the spelling bee, Shrey said he practiced five hours each day.He told reporters his "amazing community" was key in helping him snag the winning title."They really motivated me and pushed me to become better and I'm really just thankful for that," Shrey said, shouting out his family and coaches.It doesn't seem like the champion will be done competing any time soon.He qualified for the California state Mathcounts this year, a mathematics "bee" style contest for middle school students.How does the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals work?The finals included two spelling rounds and a vocabulary round. The vocabulary round was introduced as an onstage element in 2021 to take emphasis off spelling memorization. It involves giving each speller a multiple-choice question of a word’s definition.For spelling rounds, spellers were given 90 seconds to spell each word. If the spelling was incorrect, judges rang a bell, closing their time in the competition.Spellers could ask the following questions after being given a word: definition, part of speech, use the word in a sentence, language of origin, alternate pronunciations and repeat the word, according to Scripps.The competition began on Tuesday, May 26, with 247 spellers. They represented all 50 states. International spellers came from Guam, Canada, The Bahamas, Ghana, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S. Virgin Islands.The spellers ranged in age from nine to 15.How to qualify for the spelling bee?To qualify for the spelling bee, students must not be older than 15 or have passed the 8th grade, according to Scripps.Kids make it to the National Spelling Bee after winning classroom and regional bees. National competitors are selected based on the competition results, according to Scripps.An estimated 11 million kids participate in spelling bees in the U.S. each year, according to Scripps.What does the champion win?From the Scripps National Spelling Bee: $50,000 cash, commemorative medal, The Scripps Cup, the official championship trophy of the Scripps National Spelling BeeFrom Merriam-Webster: $2,500 cash and reference libraryFrom Encyclopædia Britannica: $400 of reference works, including a 1768 Encyclopædia Britannica©, replica set and a three-year membership to Britannica Online© PremiumFrom Kennedy Space Center and Visitors Complex: Two-day admission for up to 4 people, two-night hotel stay, astronaut meet & greet, and $350 in merchandiseFrom Delta Air Lines: $1,000 in flight creditsMichelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at mdelrey@usatoday.com.
