Here is a look at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, held in the spring every year in Washington, DC.
May 29-May 31, 2018 – The 91st Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is scheduled to take place.
May 31-June 1, 2017 – The 90th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee takes place. Ananya Vinay, 12, of Fresno, California, correctly spells the word “marocain” to win the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
2017 Champion Prizes:
A $40,000 cash prize from Scripps as well as the Scripps National Spelling Bee trophy.
A $2,500 US savings bond and reference library from Merriam-Webster.
$400 in reference works from Encyclopaedia Britannica and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium.
A trip to New York City to appear on “LIVE with Kelly and Ryan”
A trip to Hollywood to appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Other facts:
Contestants must be 15 or younger and must not have passed beyond the eighth grade.
Winning words have included: Laodicean, luge, therapy, croissant, milieu, lyceum, kamikaze, antediluvian, chiaroscurist, logorrhea, Purim, and knack.
There were co-champions in 1950, 1957, 1962, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Each year, more than 11 million students take part in the Scrips National Spelling Bee.
The Oscar-nominated documentary “Spellbound,” released in 2002, captures the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee and follows eight participants as they prepare for the event.
Timeline:
1925 – The Louisville Courier-Journal starts the event with nine contestants. Frank Neuhauser is the first winner, after spelling gladiolus correctly.
1941 – Scripps Howard assumes sponsorship of the program.
1943-1945 – There is no National Spelling Bee due to World War II.
March 5-6, 2017 – A 5-year-old girl from Oklahoma wins a regional spelling bee and qualifies to compete in the 2017 national event. She is the youngest participant to clinch a slot in the national spelling bee. The girl, named Edith Fuller, defeats 52 other children at the regional contest, spelling such challenging words as jnana, sarsaparilla and Baedeker.