The finalists of the Scripps National Spelling Bee will be vying for the chance to win $50,000 on Thursday night.
This year’s contest celebrates 100 years since the first spelling bee was held on June 17, 1925. The annual competition has grown into a nationally televised event that draws competitors from around the nation and the globe. Contestants must be under the age of 16 and participate in regional competitions for the chance to qualify for the national championship.
The finals will air live from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday on Ion, a broadcast network owned by Scripps Networks. The bee’s website has a list of streaming platforms that include the network and a tool to find your local channel after inputting your ZIP code.
Viewers can also watch on the bee’s website.
The New York Times will begin live coverage at 6 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.
This year’s spellers have come from all 50 states; the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands; and several other nations. They spent the last several days competing in preliminary spelling and vocabulary rounds at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., just outside Washington.
Last year’s top prize went to 12-year-old Bruhat Soma of St. Petersburg, Fla., after he correctly spelled the word abseil during the competition’s second-ever spell-off. Bruhat, who had tied for 74th place at the 2023 bee and 163rd place in 2022, told The Times after his victory that winning the spelling bee was “like a dream come true.”
“Instead of going down, I decided to be really motivated by that,” Bruhat said of his previous attempts, “so don’t be discouraged by failure.”
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