The 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, who lost in a lightning-round tiebreaker last year, outlasted eight other accomplished spellers to win the title.
OXON HILL, Md. — Faizan Zaki almost missed his chance to transition from runner-up to champion at the Scripps National Spelling Bee due to an unexpected display of overconfidence. Given another opportunity, he successfully claimed the title of best speller in the English language.
The 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, who was defeated in a lightning-round tiebreaker the previous year, surpassed eight other skilled spellers to win the championship on Thursday night. This included two contestants he inadvertently allowed back into the contest after a careless mistake.
Advised to take a deep breath before spelling his final word, “eclaircissement,” he confidently spelled it without asking any questions, then celebrated triumphantly by pumping his fists and collapsing onto the stage after the final letter.
Two rounds earlier, Sarvadnya Kadam and Sarv Dharavane misspelled their words, clearing a path for Faizan, but instead of making sure he knew the word, “commelina,” Faizan let his showmanship get the better of him.
“K-A-M,” he said, then stopped himself. “OK, let me do this. Oh, shoot!”
“Just ring the bell,” he told head judge Mary Brooks, who obliged.
“So now you know what happens,” Brooks said, and the other two spellers returned to the stage.
Upon his return to the microphone, Sarv chimed in: “This is surprising!”
But Sarv misspelled again, followed in the next round by Sarvadnya, and Faizan stayed just calm enough to ensure his competitors wouldn’t get back to the microphone.
It was a riveting conclusion to a competition that started in 1925 and appears to have a bright future. Scripps, a Cincinnati-based media company, had a few dozen former champions on hand to celebrate the centennial of an event that began when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington.
Faizan lost to Bruhat Soma last year in a tiebreaker known as a “spell-off.” He became only the fifth runner-up to come back and win and the first since since Sean Conley in 2001.
With the winner’s haul of $52,500 added to his second-place prize of $25,000, Faizan increased his bee earnings to $77,500. His big splurge with his winnings last year? A $1,500 Rubik’s cube with 21 squares on each side.
This is the last year the bee will be held at its home for the past 14 years, a convention center just outside Washington on the banks of the Potomac River. In 2026, the competition returns to the nation’s capital at Constitution Hall, a nearly century-old concert venue near the White House.
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