Shrey Parikh, 14, wins the Scripps Spelling Bee after a nail-biting 'spell-off'

National Shrey Parikh, 14, wins the Scripps Spelling Bee after a nail-biting 'spell-off' May 29, 202612:58 AM ET By  Rachel Treisman E.W. Scripps Company president and CEO Adam Symson holds the trophy over Shrey Parikh, winner of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee, at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. Allison Robbert/AP hide caption toggle caption Allison Robbert/AP WASHINGTON, D.C. — After three days of competition, 18 total rounds and one nail-biting, rapid-fire "spell-off," the Scripps National Spelling Bee has crowned its champion: 14-year-old Shrey Parikh from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Over the course of two hours on Thursday night, the pool of nine finalists dropped to two: Parikh and 12-year-old Ishaan Gupta from Jersey City, N.J. After each nailed their eighth respective word, officials carried a sleek silver podium — with a buzzer on top — onto the stage, prompting huge gasps from the crowd. It was time for a spell-off. "I was not excited at all, because to be honest regular spelling I feel like is a much better show of what spelling is meant to be," Parikh told reporters immediately after his win. "But I accepted the fact that there was going to be a spell-off, I calmed my mind, I got some water … and I just tried to take it all in stride and do the best I could." As the top two finalists, Ishaan Gupta (L) and Shrey Parikh (R) each had 90 seconds to spell as many words correctly as possible. Jose Luis Magana/AP hide caption toggle caption Jose Luis Magana/AP Parikh and Gupta each had 90 seconds at the buzzer, alone on the stage, to spell as many words correctly as possible. Then, after a few minutes of careful counting, judges made it official: Parikh had crushed 32 words to Gupta's 25, ending in "cashaw" (a type of plant) and setting a new spell-off record. Sponsor Message "Once I get the word I'm not really nervous anymore, because then it's all in my control," Parikh reflected from center stage at DAR Constitutional Hall, a...