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NATIONAL NEWS

Shrey Parikh wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee, beating Ishaan Gupta in lightning round

May 28, 2026, 7:17 PM | Updated: 9:48 pm

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BY ASSOCIATED PRESS


WASHINGTON (AP) — Shrey Parikh felt the pressure of arriving at the Scripps National Spelling Bee as a favorite, but his confidence showed every time he got a word he knew. And when the bee came down to a lightning-round tiebreaker against Ishaan Gupta, Shrey left no doubt.

Shrey turned a tense, high-quality final into a blowout Thursday night, racing through the 90-second “spell-off” and getting 32 words right to be crowned the best young speller in the English language. Ishaan spelled 25 words correctly in the tiebreaker.

A 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, Shrey finished third in 2024 but lost his school bee last year when he was battling a fever. He has dominated the bee circuit since, winning several highly competitive online competitions against many of the same kids he outlasted this week in the nation’s capital.

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Shrey Parikh wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee, beating Ishaan Gupta in lightning round