Shrey Parikh of California wins 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee in spell-off

U.S. Shrey Parikh wins 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee in spell-off May 28, 2026 / 10:23 PM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google Shrey Parikh emerged victorious Thursday in the 98th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. The 14-year-old eighth-grader from Rancho Cucamonga, California, bested a field of eight contenders who had advanced to the finals. Shrey and 12-year-old Ishaan Gupta of Jersey City, New Jersey, were the last two spellers standing. The two went to a spell-off to determine the winner. In the spell-off, each had 90 seconds to spell as many words as possible. Shrey spelled 32 words correctly, while Ishaan spelled 25.   Speller Shrey Parikh correctly spells a word in the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at Constitution Hall on May 28, 2026, in Washington, D.C.  Heather Diehl / Getty Images Shrey will take home a cash prize of $52,500, along with the reference works from Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, a custom trophy and commemorative medal, and $1,000 in flight credits from Delta Air Lines. Although this was the 98th bee, Shrey is the 111th champion because the bee ended in a two-way tie several times, and an eight-way tie in 2019.Spellers qualified for Thursday's finals by advancing through regional bees hosted by sponsors around the country. In order to compete, spellers must not have advanced beyond the eighth grade or be older than 15.Competitors must get through two preliminary rounds, where they are quizzed on words from a list provided in advance. There is one spelling round and one multiple-choice vocabulary round. Those who make it through the preliminaries sit for a written spelling and vocabulary test, with the top 100 or so finishers advancing to the quarterfinals. The words for the test, and for all subsequent rounds, are taken from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary.Throughout the quarterfinals and semifinals, spellers are eliminated at the microphone through oral spelling or...