Episode 21: Scripps National Spelling Bee

Since 1925 the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been the Super Bowl for America’s best young spellers.

Each year 11 million students participate in local bees, and about 500 advance to the national bee in Maryland held in early June. Contestants must be no older than 15 and in 8th grade or lower.

Spelling is a so-called ‘brain sport’. Preparation is as demanding as any mainstream sport — contestants practice and train rigorously to reach the national summit.

Champions in recent years claimed their titles by correctly spelling in the final round: 2010: stromuhr; 2011: cymotrichous; 2012: guetapens; 2013: knaidel; 2014: stichomythia / feuilleton; 2015: scherenschnitte / nunatak; 2016: Feldenkrais / gesellschaft; 2017: marocain; 2018: koinonia; 2019: auslaut / erysipelas / bougainvillea / aiguillette / pendeloque / palama / cernuous / odylic; 2021: Murraya; 2022: moorhen

Since 1999 most of the Bee winners have come from the South Asian/Indian-American community, who embrace the event as a cultural touchstone. Indian-American spelling dominance is explored in the 2020 documentary, “Spelling the Dream”, and in the 2019 book, “Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal About Generation Z’s New Path to Success”.

The 2022 champion, Harini Logan, 14, of San Antonio, Texas, embellished the Indian-American dynasty.

Harini Logan, 14, won the 2022 National Spelling Bee.

Although most of its participants are from the U.S., students from countries such as The Bahamas, Canada, the People's Republic of China, India, Ghana, Japan, Jamaica, Mexico, and New Zealand have also competed in recent years.

The first Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1925 had nine finalists. Frank Neuhauser, 11, of Louisville, spelled ‘gladiolus’ to win the title.

Jacques Bailly, the 1980 champion, serves as the Bee’s pronouncer of words.

“Spelling the Dream” is a 2020 documentary about the National Bee.

Shalini Shankar explores Generation Z through a prism of Bee contestants in her book, “Beeline”.