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 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.

#29

Declan Durand, 11 years old, 5th grade

Georgetown, Delaware

#30

Zion Miller, 14 years old, 8th grade

Seaford, Delaware

#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

#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!