Indian-American student, Shrey Parikh, emerged winner of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Friday after delivering a record-breaking performance during the competition’s fast-paced spell-off round.
The 14-year-old correctly spelled 32 of 35 words within 90 seconds, setting a new benchmark in the contest’s history and extending the dominance of Indian-origin contestants in the prestigious event.
Parikh, an eighth grader at Day Creek Intermediate School in California, secured the championship title by accurately spelling “Bromocriptine” in the deciding round. He defeated 12-year-old Ishaan Gupta of Frank R Conwell Middle School in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Sarv Dharavane, a 12-year-old student from Peachtree Charter Middle School in Tucker, Georgia, finished in third place.
As runner-up, Ishaan earned USD 25,000 in prize money, while Sarv received USD 15,000.
Shrey’s performance also surpassed the previous spell-off record established in 2024 by Bruhat Soma, who correctly spelled 29 out of 30 words.
“Spelling fast is what I do every day,” Shrey said after his victory.
In addition to the championship title, Parikh received several awards, including USD 50,000 in cash, the Scripps Cup, a commemorative medal, USD 2,500 from Merriam-Webster, USD 1,000 in Delta flight credits, and reference materials worth USD 400 from Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The competition, which lasted three days, began on Monday at D.A.R. Constitution Hall in Washington. A total of 247 contestants participated, representing all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Department of Defence schools in Europe, and five other countries — the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
Nine contestants eventually qualified for the finals held on Thursday night.
During the final spell-off, both Shrey and Ishaan were given 90 seconds each to spell as many words as possible from the same list.
Shrey had previously appeared in the competition in 2022, where he tied for 89th place, before returning in 2024 to finish tied for third.
According to his biography released by the Spelling Bee organisers, Shrey enjoys activities such as tennis, reading, mathematics and chess. He is also involved in music and performs percussion in his school band, playing instruments including the snare drum, bass drum, timpani, toms, break drum, triangle, glockenspiel and marimba.
Much of his spare time is spent solving mathematics problems or being with his siblings. He has also travelled widely and particularly enjoys trips to India to visit his grandparents.
Outside spelling competitions, Shrey counts qualifying for this year’s California state Mathcounts competition among his proudest accomplishments.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee, first organised in 1925, is designed to test contestants’ spelling, vocabulary and language abilities through multiple rounds featuring increasingly difficult words. Participants must generally be younger than 15 years old and not beyond the eighth grade.
Students of Indian origin have maintained a strong presence in the competition since Balu Natarajan became the first Indian-origin champion in 1985.
This year, five of the nine finalists were of Indian origin.
