This year is the 25th anniversary of Sean Conley's epic win at the 2001 Bee! 🐝 From Anoka, Minnesota, Sean remains the only winner from the North Star State in the history of the Bee. He was no overnight sensation, advancing to round six in 1999 and finishing second in 2000, before winning it all. 🙌
If you remember her dog-eared dictionary, you remember April DeGideo (now Solla). 🐝 April tied for 3rd at the 1999 Bee, then captured hearts around the world in the iconic documentary Spellbound (2002). Today, she’s a proud NYU graduate, paralegal, and mom of three. Thanks for the memories April! 💛
🐝 Meet our second 2026 Educator of the Year finalist: Melvin Buck-Cooper of Burroughs Elementary in Washington, D.C.! His program is as inspiring as it is impactful, helping students grow as confident spellers and speakers. Participation has increased a whopping 85%! Well done, Mr. Buck-Cooper! 💛
🐝 BEE COUNTDOWN! Just 6️⃣ weeks until we drop the confetti for our 2026 Bee Champion. Once again, you can watch live on ION TV, which is available for free over-the-air and through various streaming platforms. We'll also live stream during Bee Week at www.spellingbee.com! 🏆
🐝🎉 Happy birthday Anamika Veeramani, our 2010 Bee Champion! After her win, Anamika graduated from Yale in three years and earned her medical degree from Harvard. Today, she’s a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Resident at Johns Hopkins. We’re so proud to celebrate you on your special day! 💛
Last week, two spellers from two different states spelled the same exact word to advance to the Bee! 🐝 The word was "analphabet" – which ironically means "a person who cannot read or write" – correctly spelled by Ethan Robert from Wisconsin and Gentry Layton from Missouri. Congratulations! 🙌
🐝 Meet our first finalist for the Bee's 2026 Educator of the Year Award: Alison Benkovic, a 4th grade teacher at Chadwick Elementary in Maryland! Through her leadership, Chadwick’s bee program has become a thriving tradition, and we’re proud to honor Alison and celebrate her incredible impact. 💛
🐝 BEE COUNTDOWN! Exactly 7️⃣ weeks from today, we'll crown the champion of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee! Our hive is busy making plans for our first-ever Bee at the iconic DAR Constitution Hall, Washington D.C.’s largest auditorium. Bee watch parties are already forming! 🏆
🐝🎉 Today is a double champion birthday! Happy birthday to Waneeta Beckley, the 1937 Bee champion who clinched her title (and a $500 prize!) with the word “promiscuous.” And to Sukanya Roy, who took the crown by spelling “cymotrichous" in 2011. Two champions. Two eras. Happy birthday, Bee champions!🎂
📣 Excited to announce that the Carolina Panthers have been named the Bee's 2026 Regional Partner of the Year! Since 2021, @panthersculture.bsky.social has been an enthusiastic and dedicated champion of our mission to give students a platform to succeed. Thank you Panthers Nation! #KeepPounding 🏈
Today we honor the birthday of a Bee original: Dr. George Wills, the Pronouncer at the inaugural Bee in 1925. Born in 1866, Dr. Wills started one of the Bee’s most beloved traditions by pronouncing the words for the first competitors. Happy heavenly birthday to the voice that helped start it all.
Happy birthday to Bee champion Rishik Gandhasri! 🎉 Back in 2019, Rishik confidently spelled “auslaut” to claim his share of the historic OctoChamps title. These days, he's busy studying Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at UCLA.🔬Wishing you a fantastic birthday, Rishik! 🎂💛
The Bee announced today that only words with 12 letters will be permitted at this year's competition. That means spellers can focus on words like quinquennium, abnegatingly, and henhousingly and avoid those pesky small ones.
🐝
Just kidding. April Fool's.
It’s March 31 – a good time for a foreign language lesson. In French, "être sur son trente-et-un" (literally, "to put on one’s thirty-one") means to look elegant or be dressed up for an occasion. 🇫🇷 So go ahead and get a little fancy today. After all, the 31st only comes seven times a year. 😉
🐝 75 years ago, Irving Belz won the 1951 Bee (that's him on the right with 2nd place finisher Michael Aratingi and NY Mayor Vincent Impellitteri). He became a doctor and devoted his career to improving mental health care. Here's to a champion whose greatest work came long after his winning word. 🙌
Who can relate?
#FridayFunnies 🤣
🐝 100 years ago, Pauline Bell made history as our first female winner. She met President Coolidge (she's on his right), then thought in the one-room schools of Grayson County, retired, then started a second career as a social worker. Today, we honor a champion and a life devoted to helping others.
Making it to the Bee is hard. Making it three times is downright heroic. Two 3-peaters just secured their spots at the 2026 Bee!
🐝 Isaac Brogan won the WFCU Credit Union Regional Bee in Ontario, Canada
🏆 Arnie Parat returns to the Bee by prevailing at his regional bee in Texas. On crutches no less!
One word that's sure to be buzzing at Bee Week is "semiquincentennial" – in honor of the United States' 250th birthday! We encourage educators and students to check out https://america250.org – there's plenty of great content, including an essay contest that is open through March 30. Enjoy!
"Can you use it in a sentence?"
The $2.64 Intimidation Crab Meat bullied me out of my lunch money in aisle 6. 🦀
Friendly reminder: Spell check can't save you when the words are actually spelled correctly. Grab that dictionary before you price the seafood! 🤣🐝
#FridayFunnies
Some of the earliest known video from the Bee dates back to this newsreel of the 1954 National Spelling Bee. Presented by Film Archives NYC, these clips capture several spellers on stage, including champion William Cashore and his winning word. #TBT 🐝
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgOVmvv0ing
Shoutout to three more spellers who will join us in Washington, D.C. for Bee Week!
🐝 Isaac Geremew won the WHYY-Billy Penn South Jersey Regional Bee
🏆 Nikhil Ganta won the Denver Post Colorado State Bee
📣 Ashley Bryner won the Southeast Education Service Center Regional Spelling Bee in Utah
Happy St. Patrick's Day! And remember, it's "St. Paddy's Day" not "St. Patty's Day." ☘️
A child with bear feet is a grizzly situation to be sure...🤣
#FridayFunnies
🐝 COUNTDOWN ALERT 🔔
In just 75 days, more than 200 superstars will take the stage at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. and spell their first words in the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee!
Happy birthday to 2017 Bee Champion Ananya Vinay! Since winning the trophy as a 6th grader, she's been busy – Coca-Cola Scholar, internship at the Mayo Clinic, and currently a junior at Pomona College spending the semester at University College London, studying neuroscience.
Happy birthday Ananya!
#DYK that during the Great Depression, a group of librarians on horseback delivered books to isolated towns in the Appalachians?📚 The Pack Horse Library Project saw brave women ride hundreds of miles through brutal weather and harsh terrain to bring the power of words to more than 100,000 people.
"Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder." – Rumi
#MotivationMonday
📸: Debbie Maciolek
As we roll on toward Bee Week, it's time for all of our loyal grammar police cadets to arm themselves for the battles ahead 🤣
#FridayFunnies
This year is the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Bee, when Tim Kneale beat out a then-record number of 87 spellers to capture the trophy. Tim got a hero's welcome back home in New York, then went on to earn a degree in chemical engineering from MIT. Today, he's president at TOPAS Advanced Polymers.