Shrey Parikh, a 14-year-old speller from San Bernardino, California, representing the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, won this year’s Bee following the third Spell-off in Bee history, Spellingbee.com announced May 28, 2026. Parikh walks away with a cool $50,000 as well as other prizes.
He correctly spelled 32 words, a new record for the Spell-off. His winning word is “bromocriptine,” which is “a polypeptide alkaloid that is a derivative of ergot and mimics the activity of dopamine.” This was just the 2nd time in the history of the Bee that a spell-off was used to determine the winner. Parikh spelt 32 words correctly to Gupta’s 25.
After a gruelling 3-day competition held in Washington, D.C., Parikh defeated 247 entrants from around the country, including the finalists. In the end it was him against 3 other kids of Indian origin — Kushi Gottimukkala of North Carolina, Sarv Dharavane of Georgia, and Ishaan Gupta of New Jersey. And in the end it was between him and Ishaan Gupta going head-to-head in a “spell-off” which depended more on speed than anything else, with each of them slamming the buzzer as fast as they could on the road to victory.
Five of the 9 finalists were of Indian origin in this highly anticipated national event that has been dominated by kids of Indian origin for many years now. Started in 1925, a hundred years ago, the Bee is a popular sport in the Indian American community with children joining their school Bee teams and eventually graduating up the ladder to the nationals.
At this year’s Bee, the words ranged from the easy such as ‘determination’ to tough with “cywyddau,” “fais-dodo,” and “emeute,” which it is doubtful many adults could spell.
About Shrey Parikh
He was sponsored by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and is a student at Day Creek Intermediate School.
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