Shrey Parikh won the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 28 by spelling “bromocriptine,” then beat Ishaan Gupta in a spell-off with a record 32 correct words in 90 seconds. The next Bee is the 2027 National Competition in May; the Bee’s site lists no exact dates for it as of September 25, 2026.
How the 2026 Bee finished
- Champion: Shrey Parikh, 14, an eighth grader from Rancho Cucamonga, California
- Winning word: bromocriptine, 13 letters, formed from Greek and Latin elements
- Second: Ishaan Gupta, Jersey City, New Jersey, 25 of 29 words in the spell-off
- Third: Sarv Dharavane, Dunwoody, Georgia, third for the second year running
- Field: 247 spellers, competition from Tuesday, May 26 to Thursday, May 28, 2026
- Venue: DAR Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C., its new home after the 2025 Bee at the Gaylord National Resort in Maryland
The spell-off decided it. Each of the last two spellers had 90 seconds to spell as many words as they could from a set list while the other was kept out of the room. Parikh’s 32 of 35 broke the record Bruhat Soma set in 2024, when he spelled 29 of 30.
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It was Parikh’s third Bee. He tied for third in 2024 and tied for 89th in 2022. The champion takes home $50,000 and the Scripps Cup from Scripps, plus sponsor prizes; second place pays $25,000 and third $15,000.
Recent winners and their words
| Year | Champion | Age | Winning word | Letters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Shrey Parikh | 14 | bromocriptine | 13 |
| 2025 | Faizan Zaki | 13 | éclaircissement | 15 |
| 2024 | Bruhat Soma | 12 | abseil | 6 |
| 2023 | Dev Shah | 14 | psammophile | 11 |
| 2022 | Harini Logan | 14 | moorhen | 7 |
| 2021 | Zaila Avant-garde | 14 | Murraya | 7 |
Four of the last six champions were 14, and Zaki was 13. Soma, at 12, is the youngest of the six. The words swing more than the ages do: three of the six ran 11 letters or more, and three were seven letters or fewer.
Betting the Spelling Bee
No price on the 2027 Bee is quoted here. As of September 25, 2026, we have no market for it that we can source and date.
If a board opens in May, props on the length of the winning word, the winner’s age or a spell-off can be read against the record above. A prop at -120 is priced at 54.5%, one at +140 at 41.7%. Two of the last three Bees, 2024 and 2026, ended in a spell-off. A bet on any of these is worth making only when you rate the chance higher than the price does, and with one Bee a year, six results are a thin record to rate anything on.
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