Spelling Bee Championship Ends in Insane 8-Way Tie

By Joshua Yehl

In a historic turn of events, the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee ended in an eight-way tie. The eight finalists, ranging from ages 12 to 14, went 20 consecutive rounds without misspelling a word. That’s when it was declared by Dr. Jacques Bailly, the Scripps National Spelling Bee’s official announcer, that all remaining contestants would be named “co-champions,” according to Time.

The winning word for each champion were: auslaut, erysipelas, bougainvillea, aiguillette, pendeloque, palama, cernuous, and odylic.

There have been three other instances of Spelling Bee ties in 2014, 2015 and 2016, although each of those only saw two co-champions, which goes to show just how unprecedented it was to have eight winners this year. The prize for first place is $50,000 and a trophy, but rather than splitting the winnings, each co-champion will receive the full $50,000 and their own trophy.

The competition took place in Washington D.C. and saw 562 spellers from around the world test their grammatical mettle. The first leg of the competition tested the youngsters on vocabulary and spelling skills, and then there were two rounds of oral spelling competition. The top 50 finishers then moved on to the final showdown. It was five and a half hours before the top 16 was decided, and then another three and a half hours before the competition came to its unprecedented close.

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

And the winners are…

• Rishik Gandhasri, age 13, from San Jose, California
• Erin Howard, age 14, from Huntsville, Alabama
• Saketh Sundar, age 13, from Clarksville, Maryland
• Shruthika Padhy, age 13, from Cherry Hill, New Jersey
• Sohum Sukhatankar, age 13, from Dallas, Texas
• Abhijay Kodali, age 12, from Flower Mound, Texas
• Christopher Serrao, age 12, from Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
• Rohan Raja, age 13, from Irving, Texas

Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.