NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND - MAY 28: Spellers sit for a photograph with their newly awarded medals for making it into the semifinals of the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center on May 28, 2025 in National Harbor, Maryland. 243 spellers from all over the globe ages 8 to 14 compete from May 27-May 30, 2025 during the 100th anniversary of the bee. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
A group of young competitors — including two from Austin — are competing for the spelling bee crown this week.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee kicked off Tuesday and runs through Thursday.
The 2026 spelling bee has 247 competitors representing the U.S., the District of Columbia, three U.S. territories and five other countries: The Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
Twenty-three competitors are from Texas, including two representing the Austin area.
The first Scripps National Spelling Bee took place in 1925 after the Louisville Courier-Journal invited newspapers around the country to organize local spelling bees and send their winners to Washington, D.C. After decades at a convention center in suburban Maryland, the competition returns to downtown Washington this year at Constitution Hall, just blocks from the White House.
There’s another new addition this year as well: ESPN NFL analyst and “Celebrity Jeopardy!” winner Mina Kimes joins the broadcast team as the bee’s television host.
This marks the 98th edition of the bee. The event was suspended from 1943 to 1945 during World War II and again in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even so, this year’s winner will become the 111th champion because the competition has ended in multiple ties over the years, including an unprecedented eight-way tie in 2019.
The Austin-area contestants competing in the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee are:
Thivaan Butani, age 12, is in sixth grade at Lake Travis Middle School. According to the contest’s website, Butani’s favorite word is “yttriferous” and he tied for 74th place in last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee. He also recently won a robotics competition, according to his bio.
Sreeyansh Pasham, age 13, is an eighth grader at BASIS Cedar Park. According to Pasham's bio on the competition's website, he enjoys computer programming, building keyboards and robots, playing video games, reading science fiction and playing soccer.
The spelling bee’s preliminary rounds on Tuesday will air and stream on Scripps Sports Network and spellingbee.com from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. CT.
On Wednesday, the quarterfinals will stream on those same platforms from 7 a.m. to noon, followed by the semifinals from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. A tape-delayed broadcast of the semifinals will air on ION from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The finals are scheduled for Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on ION. Viewers can also watch the semifinals and finals on several Scripps-owned channels and streaming services, including ION Plus, Bounce, Grit, Laff, The Spot, Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More, Scripps News and Scripps Sports Network.
The champion takes home a custom trophy along with more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.