For nearly 100 years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has showcased the biggest words of the youngest lexicographers. The inaugural champion, 11-year-old Frank Neuhauser of Louisville, correctly spelled “gladioles” to claim a $500 prize at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
The words have only gotten tougher, the pressure greater and the national spotlight bigger.
Out of 231 contestants, about a dozen finalists have beaten their way to the finals, which On Thursdays at 8pm ET on Ion and Bounce Network And should last until about 10 o’clock in about a week of the final competition National HarborA resort and waterfront development in Maryland.
Many Americans became familiar with the Bee from its national broadcast on ESPN, where it gained popularity, viewership and Pop culture in the last few decades. But that changed last year when Bee moved to Ion, a subsidiary of Scripps Hoping to find an audience beyond pay TV subscribers.
According to the Bee, that bet worked: viewership for the final in 2022 was up 147 percent year-on-year and was watched by 7.5 million viewers — the biggest television audience since 2015.
The New York Times, which has covered the spelling bees for nearly 150 years, will continue that tradition Thursday night, reporting live on the stories of the spellers and the words they come up with. Definitions will come from the competition’s dictionary partner, Merriam-Webster. The champion will take home more than $50,000 in cash and several reference works such as a replica of the 1768 Encyclopedia Britannica.
