Faizan Zaki wins 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee a year
At the end of in 2015’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, Faizan Zaki grimaced, nodded his head and offered a thoughtful handshake as runner-up to winner Bruhat Soma after a significant spell-off.
One year later on, Zaki stood alone, with a prize in hand.Advertisement The 13-year-old Allen, Texas
, native vanquish 8 other finalists to win the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday in National Harbor, Maryland. His winning word:”éclaircissement. “You can see the moment he won in the video above.His prizes
:
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$50,000 money from Scripps, a medal and the Scripps Cup trophy
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$2,500 money from Merriam-Webster, plus a referral library from the dictionary business.
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$400 worth of books from Encyclopædia Britannica
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$1,000 in Scholastic Dollars donated to the school of his choice
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A five-year subscription to a News-O-Matic platform for his school
Very first runner-up Sarvadnya Kadam will get $25,000, while second runner-up Sarv Dharavane will get $15,000. Zaki had formerly completed 3 times in the spelling bee, ending up 370th in 2019, 21st in 2023 and as the runner-up in 2024.
The fourth time was the appeal for Faizan Zaki at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) It was nearly another heartbreaker for Zaki earlier in the finals, though. He was poised to win the event after Kadam and Dharavane both misspelled their words in the 18th round. After being asked to spell “commelina,” Zaki beat the gun and began spelling before troubling to request for the definition or origin. Three letters in– “K, A, M”– Zaki recognized his mistake.Advertisement Kadam and
Dharavane reentered the competitors, with Dharavane quipping, “This is surprising. “Luckily for Zaki, Dharavane misspelled his next word too, while Kadam fell in the next round, setting him approximately take the title.On the final word, longtime spelling bee pronouncer, and former champ, Jacques Bailly playfully requested”all of us to take a deep breath,” to which Zaki deadpanned,”That did not help at all.” Zaki again didn’t request the meaning or origin of”éclaircissement,”however he clearly had the letters in his head as soon as he heard it.And as soon as the judges verified he got it right
, he fell to the ground, followed a moment later by the confetti.You can see every word Zaki spelled on his method
to victory here.