As the saying goes, delay is not denial.
Perhaps no one could speak to the validity of that statement more than Faizan Zaki. With his correct spelling of éclaircissement, he recently became the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, realizing a goal that he fell short of achieving one year ago.
“After I got second, I was excited but I was definitely disappointed,” Faizan told The Informer as he reflected on his loss to Bruhat Soma during the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee. “I wanted to go back and do better next year and look where I am now. I think I definitely achieved my goal.”
On the night of May 29, Faizan counted among nine finalists who graced the stage at the Gaylord National Harbor Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland. During 10 intense rounds, he and the other finalists gave it their all. At times, the road to victory didn’t appear clear for Faizan, who, during the eighth round, misspelled commelina and triggered a rematch between him, Sarvadnya Kadam and Sarv Dharavane, two of the other top spellers who had been previously eliminated.
“I was so mentally exhausted and I wanted to get it over with,” Faizan, a seventh grader from Allen, Texas, told The Informer. “When [Scripps National Spelling Bee pronouncer] Dr. [Jacques] Bailly gave me commelina, I immediately spelled [the word] then I realized I need[ed] the information. And then I realized I was wrong. So, I had to go through that process again.”
Through it all, Faizan remained focused, and at times excited about the prospect of victory. That attitude, he said, proved essential in the final moments of the bee.
“Luckily, I got another championship word and I got that right,” Faizan said.
A Night of Intense Competition — and a Victory in a Long Line of Victories
Faizan’s victory happened at the end of a national competition attended by 43 past national spelling bee champions celebrating the E.W. Scripps Company’s 100th national spelling bee.
Spellers who joined Faizan, Sarvadnya and Sarv in the finals were: Esha Marupudi of Chandler, Arizona; Oliver Halkett of Los Angeles; Harini Murali of Edison, New Jersey; Brian Liu of Great Neck, New York, Asiahwarya Kallakuri of Concord, North Carolina; and Akshaj Somisetty of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
The first round of the finals ended with no eliminations—the first occurrence of its kind since 2019. During the second round, which focused on vocabulary, Akshaj suffered defeat when he chose the incorrect definition for imbroglio, defined as an extremely confusing, complicated or embarrassing situation. During the third round, Esha and Oliver were eliminated when they misspelled aromorphosis and aurore respectively.
The final six held their own for the next three rounds, albeit with Savadnya, Harini and Brian nearly facing defeat as they struggled to beat the clock and correctly spell meliponine, septieme, and reseda, respectively. However, Harini’s journey would end during the seventh round when she misspelled tekke. Brian had a similar outcome with his misspelling of kyah, as did Aishwarya when she tripped over Keighley, a word of English origin that’s associated with a town in West Yorkshire, England.
During the ninth and 10th rounds, after Faizan’s nearly fatal mistake, Sarv suffered elimination when he misspelled the scientific term eserine. Sarvadnya subsequently tripped over the phonetic construction of Uaupes, a tributary of the Rio Negro in South America.
Those events set the stage for Faizan’s correct spelling of chaldee–and ultimately his victory.
Shortly after being declared the winner, Faizan breathed a sigh of relief and dropped to the floor. Such an expression elicited memories for 1985 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Balu Natarajan.
“I didn’t fall, but it was with all that effort, you really take a sigh of relief before you do anything else,” said Natarajan, whose winning word was milieu, defined as a person’s social environment. “So it was just amazing, the bright lights and all of the energy around it. After all that work with my family, it was really special.”
As the first Indian American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Natarajan set an example for legions of Indians and Indian Americans who would go on to participate, and at times, dominate the national competition. As Natarajan explained to The Informer, the Indian community in his hometown of Woodbridge, Illinois, rallied around his family after his victory, which he said inspired him to pass it forward to other spellers of similar background.
“Many of us are part of a charity called the NorthSouth Foundation that trains kids, but also gives back to the underserved so that they can access education,” said Natarajan, a board-certified physician. “That’s really what I’m most proud of. Yes, that the community came together and had a lot of championships, but more so that they used that energy to give back.”
Other Past Champions Reflect on the 100th Bee
In the more than two hours leading up to Faizan’s special moment, audience members like John Capehart saw elements of a competition that, despite its evolution over the last century, still spurs unpredictability.
“The Spelling Bee itself certainly was enjoyable [but] one has to recognize that no matter how much you prepare, there’s a little luck of the draw in something like this,” said Capehart, a Dallas resident and 1961 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner. “You take anybody and put them on a stage and give them enough words, sooner or later they’re going to miss one.”
Capehart, a retired surgeon, clinched victory as a young speller when he correctly spelled smaragdine, an adjective pertaining to emeralds. Decades later, after tapping back into the competition that strengthened his academic and professional pursuits, he expressed his gratitude to the E.W. Scripps Company for creating similar experiences for young scholars.
“It’s heartening to see something like this,” Capehart said, “that promotes literacy and promotes studying and intellectual pursuits, is this strong and this viable in the current era after 100 years. It shows that it’s an entity that has a well-defined niche even in today’s society.”
For some of the more recent national spelling bee champions, like Zaila Avant-garde, the 100th competition provided an opportunity for historical immersion.
“It’s a really wonderful feeling,” said Avant-garde, 18. “Many of these people that I’m meeting here at the centennial, I had never met before. I only knew them as banners on a wall or names on an archive, but to actually see these people at such a momentous occasion for the bee is really nice.”
In 2021, Avant-garde became the second Black person, and the first African American, to win a national spelling bee when she correctly spelled murraya— a type of plant and a word she said was etched in the recesses of her mind.
“I knew there would be a victory because…I immediately connected it to my childhood memories of listening to the ‘Lost in Translation’ soundtrack and watching the movie constantly,” Avant-garde said. “For me, my moment of celebration kind of began the second I got the word.”
Since becoming a spelling bee champion, Avant-garde has written four books, with her fifth book, titled “Weird and Wonderful You,” scheduled for a July 22 release. She’s also one of the top 2026 basketball prospects and the holder of four Guinness World Records, including one she holds with Joseph Odhiambo for the most basketballs — six— dribbled at once.
Avant-garde said the significance of her pandemic-era victory isn’t lost on her.
“It was definitely kind of a bittersweet moment because it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m the first winner,’ but ‘Oh, I’m the first winner,’” Avant-garde told The Informer in a somber tone. “But one of my goals when I was studying for the bee was to become the first African-American to win, and I’m really proud that I achieved that.”
Looking Back: A Century of Support for Young Spellers
The first national spelling bee took place on June 17, 1925, in the District, with the support of the Louisville Courier-Journal. E.W. Scripps Company wouldn’t become a sponsor until 1941. Despite delays caused by World War II and the pandemic, the national spelling bee has become a mainstay in American culture and the U.S.’s largest and longest-running educational promotion.
This year, all 242 spellers received a commemorative medallion marking a crucial milestone in the existence of the national competition. In this elite group, nearly three out of four spellers were competing in their first Scripps National Spelling Bee, while 53 spellers made their second consecutive appearance.
The elementary and middle school-aged spellers represented all 50 states, with Texas and California accounting for the most spellers. More than a dozen spellers came from abroad, representing countries such as: Canada, the Bahamas, Germany, Ghana, Kuwait, and Nigeria.
The national bee also became a family affair, with Zwe Spacetime, Avante-garde’s younger brother, participating in the competition, as well as Ved Raju, younger brother of 2022 runner-up Vikram Raju, and William Fuller, the younger brother of Edith Fuller, who, at the age of six, became the youngest-ever national spelling bee participant in 2017.
Zwe, a seventh grader and homeschool student, won The Washington Informer Citywide Spelling Bee in March. He and Prince George’s County spelling bee winner Abigail Adegbite represented the home team at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center.
Abigail suffered defeat during the first round when she misspelled genet, a nocturnal cat-like animal. Her family didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
While he made it for several rounds, Zwe was eliminated when he misspelled the word cocillana, an herbal medicine derived from a South American tree. Despite not meeting his goal of becoming a spelling bee champion, Zwe said he felt the support of his peers and the adults in the space.
“The lesson I learned was that even if a speller doesn’t win, if he has something that endears him to people, or he or she does something that nobody… has ever done before in Scripps, people are still gonna congratulate you,” Zwe, 13, told The Informer.
On Thursday night, Vanya Shivashankar, 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee co-champion, served as the mistress of ceremonies. The finals pre-show, which started with a performance by the U.S. Marine Band, allowed for recognition of 2025 Spelling Bee UAE Champion Elijah Zachary Dizon Mirandilla, 2025 National Spelling Bee Educator of the Year Nikki Montana, and Jay Sugarman, creator of the Sugarman Award that’s been given to more than 7,500 regional winners since the 1990s.
Actress-singer Keke Palmer, star of the 2006 film “Akeelah and the Bee,” provided recorded congratulatory remarks, while E.W. Scripps Company CEO Adam P. Symson reflected on the significance of what’s become a cultural phenomenon.
“It’s a crown jewel in the Scripps mission to know that tonight millions will gather separately in their own homes, but together as a nation, to see these spellers shine a spotlight on learning and language in this competition is remarkable,” Symson said Thursday. “To recognize that that spotlight has continued to shine on the national stage for 100 years, truly incredible.”
As has become customary, Symson also extolled the efforts of all 242 spellers who, since the fall, participated in spelling bees in the schools and regionally alongside nearly 11 million other young people who ended up watching the national competition from their homes.
“You are an amazing group, and you have my respect and admiration,” Symson said. “I know all of you worked very hard to get here, and my hope is that you found your time here at Bee Week rewarding, memorable, and a lot of fun. … I’m pulling for each of you, prepared as always to be astounded by your poise and depth of knowledge as you strive to beat the dictionary.”