What began with nine competitors 100 years ago now has 243 fighting for the championship title, with millions of viewers expected to tune in to watch athletes of the mind this week.
Considered the Super Bowl of its kind, it’s National Spelling Bee week, and this isn’t your typical New York Times Spelling Bee or Wordle game; to prepare, competitors are given a “Words of the Champions” study guide with three difficulty levels, where words range from “twilight” and “rosan” to ”ecclesiology" and “teppanyaki.”
Beginning Tuesday, young linguists have come from all over the U.S., Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. There will also be participants from the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Kuwait and Nigeria to participate in the Scripps Cup this year, fighting for the $52,500 cash prize and a custom trophy — basically the first year’s tuition at the Ivy League school they’ll likely attend.
The event can be watched live on the Scripps National Spelling Bee website, allowing adults to watch in awe and self-deprecation as kids handle the mental pressure to spell words of native English and foreign origins, all on a massive stage.
But no pressure.
Last year’s winner was 12-year-old Bruhat Soma from Tampa, Florida. He spelled 29 out of 30 words correctly in 90 seconds.
His winning word was “abseil,” which means a “descent in mountaineering by means of a rope looped over a projection above,” per the press release.
With the quarterfinals and semifinals taking place on Wednesday, finals will be held past the competitors’ bedtimes on Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. MDT.
This isn’t your typical Little League where everyone gets a medal. Bios of some of the competitors describe their favorite pastimes as “solving math problems and practicing Bharatanatyam” or “speedcubing or playing his viola.”
If a student spells incorrectly, they’re out.
May the best brainiac win.
