The United States National Spelling Bee is a highly competitive annual spelling bee run on a non-profit basis by the E.W. Scripps Company.
The National Spelling Bee was formed in 1925 as a consolidation of numerous local spelling bees. The bee is held in June of each year, and is open to students under sixteen years of age who have not yet completed the eighth grade nor won a previous National Spelling Bee. Its goal is educational: to encourage children to perfect the art of spelling. The winner of each year's bee is awarded a cash prize including S12,000 from the Scripps National Spelling Bee and a cup.
The 2002 Academy Award nominated documentary Spellbound followed eight competitors during the 1999 competition, including winner Nupur Lala.
A fourteen-year-old eighth grader, David Tidmarsh, won the 2004 spelling bee on June 3rd, correctly spelling "autochthonous" in the fifteenth round.
The following are recent winners of the competition:
- 1994 - Ned G. Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee
- 1995 - Justin Tyler Carroll, Memphis, Tennessee
- 1996 - Wendy Guey, West Palm Beach, Florida
- 1997 - Rebecca Sealfon, New York, New York
- 1998 - Jody-Anne Maxwell, Kingston, Jamaica
- 1999 - Nupur Lala, Tampa, Florida
- 2000 - George Abraham Thampy, St. Louis, Missouri
- 2001 - Sean Conley, Aitkin, Minnesota
- 2002 - Pratyush Buddiga, Denver, Colorado
- 2003 - Sai R. Gunturi, Dallas, Texas
- 2004 - David Scott Tidmarsh, South Bend, Indiana
Winning words
The following are some of the "winning words" from previous years:
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