2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee Details and Local Competitors
The 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee kicked off last night in Maryland with 231 spellers competing this year from all 50 states and a number of other countries too. Valentines…

The 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee kicked off last night in Maryland with 231 spellers competing this year from all 50 states and a number of other countries too.
Valentines Day. That's what got me out in my 6th grade spelling bee. I forgot the apostrophe in Valentine's Day. I contest that word choice to this day. (First, it's two words. Second, punctuation???) Anyway, the win went to Nathan Fegley. I was runner up. Still bitter. I'm not a bad speller though, but nowhere near the Scripps competitors.
I love this competition. This year marks the 95th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. The competitors are always really young too, and super impressive. Anywhere from 9 to 14 years old, with a massive amount of knowledge of words and definitions and origins and spellings. There are a number of competitors from our area too, representing Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Here's who to look for.
Delaware:
#29
Declan Durand, 11 years old, 5th grade
Georgetown, Delaware
#30
Zion Miller, 14 years old, 8th grade
Seaford, Delaware
Pennsylvania:
#169
Christian Miller, 14 years old, 8th grade
Downingtown, Pennsylvania
#170
Kenzo Veron, 14 years old, 8th grade
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
#171
Priana Khant, 14 years old, 8th grade
Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania
#172
Pranav Anandh, 14 years old, 8th grade
Morton, Pennsylvania
#173
Arielle Dahan, 11 years old, 5th grade
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
#174
Sandhana Rajesh, 12 years old, 6th grade
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
#175
Jack Jiang, 13 years old, 8th grade
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
#176
Isaac Geremew, 11 years old, 5th grade
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
#177
Raana Parchuri, 13 years old, 7th grade
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
#178
Tyler Kulikosky, 14 years old, 8th grade
Pottsville, Pennsylvania
#179 Aaditya Aiyer, 13 years old, 7th grade
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
New Jersey:
#123
Atharv Narvekar, 14 years old, 8th grade
Bridgewater, New Jersey
#124
Lucas Ke, 14 years old, 8th grade
Hackensack, New Jersey
#125
Kavya Jakasania, 13 years old, 7th grade
Jersey City, New Jersey
#126
Aria Khambhati, 9 years old, 4th grade
Maplewood, New Jersey
#127
Mariam Belkouchi, 13 years old, 7th grade
Maplewood, New Jersey
#128
Laura Joseph, 14 years old, 8th grade
Neptune, New Jersey
The 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee preliminaries were last night. The quarterfinals are being streamed now at spellingbee.com. I had it on at work today and the live feed is great. Watch from 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m today, Wednesday, May 31st. The semifinals will be streamed too, from 2:30 to 6:30 and 8 to 10 p.m.
The finals are tomorrow night live in primetime. Watch on ION and Bounce from 8 to 10 p.m. or HERE. Will there be another historic win? We'll have to see. Last year had the very first spell off (after an 8 way tie in 2019). This years winner will get $50,000 and a number of other prizes, including the coveted Scripps Cup, the Bee's national championship trophy.
E-N-J-O-Y watching, and let's root for our local competitors!