The $30 million trophy at stake

The Scripps National Spelling Bee quarterfinals and semifinals featured a mix of young spellers using contrasting methods, from intensive coaching and online practice to dictionary-only study, as they compete for the championship trophy.

Among them are Anay Mahesh, a 13-year-old from Orlando, Florida, who displayed visible emotion after an incorrect response during the quarterfinals.

Sarv Dharavane, a 12-year-old from Dunwoody, Georgia, confidently spelled his word in the same round, while Sanil Thorat, a 10-year-old from Shreveport, Louisiana, celebrated a correct answer.

Parents in the audience watched intently, underscoring the high stakes and communal support that define the event.

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Shrey Parikh, a 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, also competed in the preliminary rounds, his journey highlighted by a stunning exit from his school bee the previous year due to illness.

Now in his final year of eligibility, Shrey has adopted an intensive, modern strategy.

He works with three coaches, invests in specialized word lists and study guides, and dedicates himself to learning greek and latin roots, language patterns, and every possible spelling bee word.

He supplements this with participation in online bees against top competitors nationwide.

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Sam Evans, coach of the past two champions, emphasized the importance of memorization, noting that finals words often lack clear linguistic rules.

"Sometimes it gets a bad reputation, but you have to do it," he said.

The path to the finals invariably requires deep knowledge of word origins, yet some participants distinguish themselves through extraordinary recall .

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Sarv Dharavane, who placed third in 2025, exemplifies this.

He has no coach, avoids online bees, and relies solely on the merriam-webster's unabridged dictionary.

"I used to read the dictionary and set aside difficult words to study later," he explained.

"I did it a lot, so I got a lot of words and it was really easy just to go through them. I've always been able to remember pretty well."

His self-driven, memorization-based strategy has proven remarkably effective.

A familiar pattern from the 2019 crash

Another semifinalist, Shah, acknowledged that memorizing the entire dictionary is impossible.

He advocated for a balance between rote learning and conceptual understanding of language patterns, which helps spellers when memory fails under pressure.

Former champion Sohum Sukhatankar, who coaches Shrey, stressed efficiency:

"When you're at the highest level , you have to be prepared for hundreds of thousands of words.

You want to do as little memorization as possible to avoid the chance that you just forget it."

Shrey's motivation stems from a painful memory: a fever-induced blank on the word 'calipers' at his school bee last year.

That defeat drove him to rigorous preparation, adding Sukhatankar to his coaching team.

As the semifinals proceeded, 54 spellers vied for a spot in the finals, each representing a different philosophy: from structured coaching and technological resources to pure dictionary immersion and innate recall.

The event highlights not only linguistic skill but also the varied ways young minds approach the monumental task of mastering the English language.