The nation’s best young spellers gathered in Maryland this week for the 100th anniversary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. A total of 243 children between the ages of 8 and 14 competed to be the last one standing through round after round of some of the English language’s most confounding words.
In the end, 13-year-old Faizan Zaki, who had finished in second place last year, claimed the title by correctly spelling éclaircissement in the final round. He received a $50,000 prize to go along with the prestige of being America’s best speller.
The national spelling bee was first held in 1925 when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited spelling champions from around the country to gather in Washington, D.C., to find a national champion. There were just nine participants that year. The winner was 11-year-old Frank Neuhauser, who won by correctly spelling gladiolus — the name of a flower in the iris family — in the final round.
Since those early days, the competition has exploded in size and popularity. Every year, millions of people tune in to marvel at the extraordinary skill these young people display, sharing in all of their joy and heartbreak along the way. The words have also gotten more challenging over time. In the early days, children could win by spelling words as familiar as knack and fracas. More recent champions have sealed their victories by navigating words like stichomythia and scherenschnitte.
For a window into just how difficult the contest has become, we put together a quiz of the winning words from the past eight Scripps National Spelling Bees. How many can you get right?
Photos: Getty Images
