Scripps National Spelling Bee 2026 Results, Winner, Finalists and Reaction

Shrey Parikh has won the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee after a thrilling spell-off against Ishaan Gupta on Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Parikh and Gupta were the lone contestants remaining after 18 rounds of action. The two then went to the spell-off, in which each contestant had to correctly spell as many words as possible within a 90-second time frame. Parikh won after spelling 32 words correctly, while Gupta still impressed with 25.

With the victory, Parikh won a $50,000 prize and the Scripps Cup.

A total of 247 spellers started the spelling bee, which is open to "students who have neither turned 16 nor passed beyond the eighth grade, and who attend schools that are officially enrolled with our program for the current academic year," per the Bee's official website.

That speller number went down to nine for the Finals. Here's a look at the finalists.

Finalists

Name	Speller Sponsor	Sponsor City
Logan Bailey	Houston City College	Houston, TX
Sarv Dharavane	Georgia Association of Educators	Tucker, GA
Avishka Dudala	Dallas Sports Commission	Dallas, TX
Kushi Gottimukkala	Carolina Panthers	Charlotte, NC
Ishaan Gupta	Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development	Jersey City, NJ
Oliver Halkett	Los Angeles County Office of Education	Los Angeles, CA
Aiden Meng	San Ramon Valley Rotary Club	Danville, CA
Shrey Parikh	San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools	San Bernandino, CA
Zwe Spacetime	The Washington Informer	Washington, D.C.

The 12th round featured the field going from nine contestants to five. The field went to four following the 14th round, three after the 15th round and then two when the 17th round ended.

Parikh and Gupta then each spelled their words right in the 18th round before the spell-off commenced. Needless to say, analysts and fans were impressed with what they saw.

In the end, the 14-year-old Parikh was victorious. The 12-year-old Gupta, a semifinalist last year, was great in his own right. The 12-year-old Sarv Dharavane, from Dunwoody, Georgia, took third in the competition for the second straight year. The sixth-grader has two more years of eligibility.