Compete

Academic

Scripps National Spelling Bee

The most watched academic competition in America, reached through school, district and regional bees.

Run by E.W. Scripps Company

Official website How to prepare Reviews and tips

Key facts

Eligible grades
Students who have not passed beyond the eighth grade.
Source, checked 2026-09-02
Eligible ages
Students who have not turned 16.
Scripps states both conditions together: a speller must have neither turned 16 nor passed beyond eighth grade. Both must hold. A third-party guide gives a stricter age of 15 by 31 August; that was not confirmed on the official pages checked, so read the 2027 eligibility requirements directly.
Source, checked 2026-09-02
Individual or team
Individual
Where it runs
In person · United States
Entry cost
$199 per school when enrolling by 30 November 2026. Enrolment is by the school, not the student.Enrolling by 30 September 2026 adds a second free Britannica Kids subscription. Regional fees, if any, are set by the local sponsor and vary; many regional competitions are free for students, and there is no cost to students who reach the national competition.
Registration deadline
School enrolment for the 2026-27 programme year is open from 18 August 2026 through 29 January 2027. Restrictions apply in some areas. 142 days leftRegional partners may set earlier local cut-offs. The Dallas regional, for example, published 31 December 2026. Check your own regional bee.
Competition dates
School and classroom bees through the autumn, regional bees in late winter and spring, national competition near Washington, D.C. in May 2027. The 2027 Contest Rules were due to be published in late autumn 2026.
Difficulty
Highly competitiveNational-level field. Expect months of structured work, and usually a coach or a strong team.
Prizes
$50,000, the Scripps Cup and a medal for the championThe 2027 prize schedule was not published on the pages checked. The 2026 champion was Shrey Parikh.

What Scripps National Spelling Bee is

The Scripps National Spelling Bee has run since 1925 and remains the best-known academic competition in the United States. Spellers qualify through school and regional bees, then compete nationally near Washington, D.C. in a televised event combining oral spelling rounds with written vocabulary and spelling tests. The word list is drawn from Merriam-Webster Unabridged, which contains hundreds of thousands of entries, so serious preparation is about language patterns rather than memorisation.

How the competition works

Classroom and school bees, then regional competitions, then the national competition. Scripps publishes suggested rules for local bees, but local officials are encouraged rather than required to use them, so check the rules in force in your area. Enrolled schools receive grade-level study lists, the 4,000-word Words of the Champions guide for school champions, and written test materials.

Eligibility notes

You must not have passed beyond grade 8, must meet the Bee's age limit, must not have previously won the national bee, and your school must be enrolled with Scripps. School enrolment is the step families most often miss.

How to register

  1. Ask whether your school is enrolled with Scripps. Enrolment is a school-level action and is the gateway to everything else.
  2. Win your class and school bee.
  3. Compete at your district or regional bee, run by the sponsor covering your area.
  4. Regional champions are invited to the national bee, with travel usually funded by the regional sponsor.

Register on the official site

What skills you need

  • Word roots and etymology
  • Language of origin patterns
  • Vocabulary
  • Composure under bright lights
  • Systematic study habits

How to prepare

Above the school level, spelling stops being memorisation and becomes pattern recognition. Serious spellers study language of origin: how Greek, Latin, French, German and Japanese loanwords behave in English. Knowing that a word came from Greek tells you a great deal about how to spell it, and that reasoning is what carries a speller through an unfamiliar word on stage.

What to study

Language of origin
The core skill. Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese loanwords each follow recognisable patterns. This is what lets a speller attempt a word they have never seen.
Roots and affixes
Greek and Latin roots recur constantly and unlock meaning as well as spelling, which matters for the vocabulary rounds.
The official study lists
Scripps publishes School Spelling Bee and Words of the Champions lists free. These are the guaranteed material and the first thing to master.
Vocabulary
The national bee includes vocabulary questions, so knowing what words mean is scored, not only how they are spelled.
Stage protocol
Asking for definition, language of origin, part of speech and alternate pronunciations. Using the allowed questions well is a genuine competitive skill.

Full preparation guide, including a week-by-week plan

Recommended resources

Past problems and materials

Only materials the organiser or an authorised archive publishes openly are listed here.

Helpful videos

Frequently asked questions

Who can enter?

Students who have not passed beyond grade 8, who are under the stated age limit as of the cut-off date, who have not previously won the national bee, and whose school is enrolled with a Scripps regional sponsor. School enrolment is the step most families overlook.

How do I study when the dictionary has hundreds of thousands of words?

You do not memorise the dictionary. Start with the free official Words of the Champions list, then study by language of origin so you can reason about unfamiliar words from their source language patterns.

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