The 245 spellers that began the 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee have dwindled down to eight.
And these busy bees are still buzzing.
The competition’s final round will take place Thursday night at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, following preliminary, quarterfinal and semifinal segments on Tuesday and Wednesday.
This year’s spellers – all age 15 or under – came from all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. The Bahamas, Canada and Ghana were also represented among the spellers, according to the Bee’s official website.
You can watch the finalists compete beginning at 8 p.m. ET on ION – which can be watched for free over the air, and is also available through most cable, satellite and streaming platforms. They are hoping to succeed 2023 winner Dev Shah, who became ruler of the hive with the word psammophile.
The second round in the finals will be the vocabulary round, introduced to the Bee in 2021, where each speller will select the correct definition of a word from a multiple choice list. All other rounds of competition consist of traditional word oral spelling.
If a winner is not secured during the final one-person, one-word round, a spell-off can be activated, wherein a speller would have 90 seconds to spell as many words as they can from a predetermined list. 2022 winner Harini Logan earned her title of queen bee this way, spelling 22 words in a minute and a half.
While there have been many co-winners, including an eight-person tie in 2019, the spell-off round seeks to weed out the competition to just one champion. According to the 2024 rulebook, there are many instances where a spell-off will be activated, all involving the possibility of no winner at the end of the live broadcast.
The finalists include: YY Liang, 12, from New York; Aditi Muthukumar, 13, from Colorado; Shrey Parikh, 12, from California; Ananya Rao Prassanna, 13, from North Carolina; Rishabh Saha, 14, from California; Kirsten Tiffany Santos, 13, from Texas; Bruhat Soma, 12, from Florida; and Faizan Zaki, 12, from Texas.
While all finalists will receive a monetary prize plus other perks, the winner gets more than $50,000 cash, the official trophy, a reference library from Merriam-Webster and reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica, among other buzzworthy prizes.
But the sting of losing can’t be too bad as 65 spellers returned this year from previous Bees, including finalists Muthukumar, Parikh, Prassanna, Santos, Soma and Zaki.
Latest Stories
-
Around 40 killed in attack on central Mali village
18 mins -
Telecel Cash Director champions competitive collaboration for Financial Inclusion
36 mins -
Nana Yaa Jantuah reveals how elements within Akufo-Addo administration forced her out of PURC
43 mins -
Tunisian president sets election date for Oct. 6
54 mins -
Telecel Ghana Foundation empowers young girls in Koforidua through STEM Training
59 mins -
Suspected female suicide bombers death toll rises to 32 in Nigeria
1 hour -
Loans or grants? What works for youth businesses? Insights from Absa Young Africa Works project
1 hour -
Collaboration vital to overcome housing and flooding challenges – Deputy Housing Minister
1 hour -
‘Any woman who has child for my son should come forward’ – Mohbad’s dad
2 hours -
Davido gifts longtime friend a car
2 hours -
Defending champion Vondrousova in shock first-round exit
2 hours -
Former Chicken Inn manager jailed 5 years for stealing ¢199K from employer
2 hours -
Former Nigerian naval Chief asks court to stop his ex-wife from using his name
2 hours -
Man jailed after ‘worst case’ of puppy neglect
2 hours -
Biker mum who stopped thief ‘let down’ by police
2 hours