Throwback to 2019 and that time we made arrangements for the Bee Champion to throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. Who could have imagined we'd end up with eight champions instead of just one 🤣 We scrapped the first pitch, but the Yankees honored all of our OctoChamps on the field that day! ⚾️

It was 20 years ago today – April 28, 2006 – when Akeelah and the Bee was released across the U.S.! 🐝 CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" – a feat only 135 films have achieved since 1982. 🎥

Every year, when we ask spellers who they'd most like to meet at the Bee, the most popular reply is always Head Pronouncer Dr. Jacques Bailly. Who else can boast a championship trophy of his own (that's him in 1980), a PhD from Cornell, and his own page on IMDb? It's cool to be smart.

Happy birthday to 2012 Bee Champion Snigdha Nandipati! 🎂 After her victory, Snigda went on to earn a degree in neuroscience from Yale, and she's currently studying to become a doctor at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. 🩺 Happy birthday Snigda, and keep up the inspiring work! ❤️

This year is the 25th anniversary of Sean Conley's epic win at the 2001 Bee! 🐝 From Anoka, Minnesota, Sean remains the only winner from the North Star State in the history of the Bee. He was no overnight sensation, advancing to round six in 1999 and finishing second in 2000, before winning it all. 🙌

If you remember her dog-eared dictionary, you remember April DeGideo (now Solla). 🐝 April tied for 3rd at the 1999 Bee, then captured hearts around the world in the iconic documentary Spellbound (2002). Today, she’s a proud NYU graduate, paralegal, and mom of three. Thanks for the memories April! 💛

🐝 Meet our second 2026 Educator of the Year finalist: Melvin Buck-Cooper of Burroughs Elementary in Washington, D.C.! His program is as inspiring as it is impactful, helping students grow as confident spellers and speakers. Participation has increased a whopping 85%! Well done, Mr. Buck-Cooper! 💛

🐝 BEE COUNTDOWN! Just 6️⃣ weeks until we drop the confetti for our 2026 Bee Champion. Once again, you can watch live on ION TV, which is available for free over-the-air and through various streaming platforms. We'll also live stream during Bee Week at www.spellingbee.com! 🏆

🐝🎉 Happy birthday Anamika Veeramani, our 2010 Bee Champion! After her win, Anamika graduated from Yale in three years and earned her medical degree from Harvard. Today, she’s a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Resident at Johns Hopkins. We’re so proud to celebrate you on your special day! 💛

Last week, two spellers from two different states spelled the same exact word to advance to the Bee! 🐝 The word was "analphabet" – which ironically means "a person who cannot read or write" – correctly spelled by Ethan Robert from Wisconsin and Gentry Layton from Missouri. Congratulations! 🙌

🐝 Meet our first finalist for the Bee's 2026 Educator of the Year Award: Alison Benkovic, a 4th grade teacher at Chadwick Elementary in Maryland! Through her leadership, Chadwick’s bee program has become a thriving tradition, and we’re proud to honor Alison and celebrate her incredible impact. 💛

🐝 BEE COUNTDOWN! Exactly 7️⃣ weeks from today, we'll crown the champion of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee! Our hive is busy making plans for our first-ever Bee at the iconic DAR Constitution Hall, Washington D.C.’s largest auditorium. Bee watch parties are already forming! 🏆

🐝🎉 Today is a double champion birthday! Happy birthday to Waneeta Beckley, the 1937 Bee champion who clinched her title (and a $500 prize!) with the word “promiscuous.” And to Sukanya Roy, who took the crown by spelling “cymotrichous" in 2011. Two champions. Two eras. Happy birthday, Bee champions!🎂

📣 Excited to announce that the Carolina Panthers have been named the Bee's 2026 Regional Partner of the Year! Since 2021, @panthersculture.bsky.social has been an enthusiastic and dedicated champion of our mission to give students a platform to succeed. Thank you Panthers Nation! #KeepPounding 🏈

Today we honor the birthday of a Bee original: Dr. George Wills, the Pronouncer at the inaugural Bee in 1925. Born in 1866, Dr. Wills started one of the Bee’s most beloved traditions by pronouncing the words for the first competitors. Happy heavenly birthday to the voice that helped start it all.

Happy birthday to Bee champion Rishik Gandhasri! 🎉 Back in 2019, Rishik confidently spelled “auslaut” to claim his share of the historic OctoChamps title. These days, he's busy studying Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at UCLA.🔬Wishing you a fantastic birthday, Rishik! 🎂💛

The Bee announced today that only words with 12 letters will be permitted at this year's competition. That means spellers can focus on words like quinquennium, abnegatingly, and henhousingly and avoid those pesky small ones. 🐝 Just kidding. April Fool's.

It’s March 31 – a good time for a foreign language lesson. In French, "être sur son trente-et-un" (literally, "to put on one’s thirty-one") means to look elegant or be dressed up for an occasion. 🇫🇷 So go ahead and get a little fancy today. After all, the 31st only comes seven times a year. 😉

🐝 75 years ago, Irving Belz won the 1951 Bee (that's him on the right with 2nd place finisher Michael Aratingi and NY Mayor Vincent Impellitteri). He became a doctor and devoted his career to improving mental health care. Here's to a champion whose greatest work came long after his winning word. 🙌

Who can relate? #FridayFunnies 🤣

🐝 100 years ago, Pauline Bell made history as our first female winner. She met President Coolidge (she's on his right), then thought in the one-room schools of Grayson County, retired, then started a second career as a social worker. Today, we honor a champion and a life devoted to helping others.

Making it to the Bee is hard. Making it three times is downright heroic. Two 3-peaters just secured their spots at the 2026 Bee! 🐝 Isaac Brogan won the WFCU Credit Union Regional Bee in Ontario, Canada 🏆 Arnie Parat returns to the Bee by prevailing at his regional bee in Texas. On crutches no less!

One word that's sure to be buzzing at Bee Week is "semiquincentennial" – in honor of the United States' 250th birthday! We encourage educators and students to check out https://america250.org – there's plenty of great content, including an essay contest that is open through March 30. Enjoy!

"Can you use it in a sentence?" The $2.64 Intimidation Crab Meat bullied me out of my lunch money in aisle 6. 🦀 Friendly reminder: Spell check can't save you when the words are actually spelled correctly. Grab that dictionary before you price the seafood! 🤣🐝 #FridayFunnies

Some of the earliest known video from the Bee dates back to this newsreel of the 1954 National Spelling Bee. Presented by Film Archives NYC, these clips capture several spellers on stage, including champion William Cashore and his winning word. #TBT 🐝 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgOVmvv0ing

Shoutout to three more spellers who will join us in Washington, D.C. for Bee Week! 🐝 Isaac Geremew won the WHYY-Billy Penn South Jersey Regional Bee 🏆 Nikhil Ganta won the Denver Post Colorado State Bee 📣 Ashley Bryner won the Southeast Education Service Center Regional Spelling Bee in Utah

Happy St. Patrick's Day! And remember, it's "St. Paddy's Day" not "St. Patty's Day." ☘️

A child with bear feet is a grizzly situation to be sure...🤣 #FridayFunnies

🐝 COUNTDOWN ALERT 🔔 In just 75 days, more than 200 superstars will take the stage at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. and spell their first words in the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee!

Happy birthday to 2017 Bee Champion Ananya Vinay! Since winning the trophy as a 6th grader, she's been busy – Coca-Cola Scholar, internship at the Mayo Clinic, and currently a junior at Pomona College spending the semester at University College London, studying neuroscience. Happy birthday Ananya!

#DYK that during the Great Depression, a group of librarians on horseback delivered books to isolated towns in the Appalachians?📚 The Pack Horse Library Project saw brave women ride hundreds of miles through brutal weather and harsh terrain to bring the power of words to more than 100,000 people.

"Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder." – Rumi #MotivationMonday 📸: Debbie Maciolek

As we roll on toward Bee Week, it's time for all of our loyal grammar police cadets to arm themselves for the battles ahead 🤣 #FridayFunnies

This year is the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Bee, when Tim Kneale beat out a then-record number of 87 spellers to capture the trophy. Tim got a hero's welcome back home in New York, then went on to earn a degree in chemical engineering from MIT. Today, he's president at TOPAS Advanced Polymers.

March is Women's History Month, and we celebrate every girl brave enough to take the Bee stage, and all 53 young ladies who have won the Scripps National Spelling Bee – from Pauline Bell, the first female champion in 1926, to 2021 champion Zaila Avant-garde and 2022 champion Harini Logan. #inspiring

Happy birthday to 2018 Bee Champion Karthik Nemmani! 🐝 8 years ago, he out-spelled a field of 515 competitors – one of the largest in Bee history. Today, he’s using that brainpower at The University of Texas at Austin, set to earn his degree in Computer Science this spring. Happy Birthday, Champ!

Students around the country are punching their tickets to the Scripps National Spelling Bee! 🐝 Abhinav Bere, Midland Reporter-Telegram Regional Bee in Texas ❤️ Oscar Quezada, South Dakota State Spelling Bee 🏆 Naithik Yankarla, Ector County ISD Regional Bee in Texas See you all in Washington D.C.! 🙌

Punctuation, or the lack thereof, can be perilous. 🐝 Especially when teeth are involved. #FridayFunnies

Happy birthday to Scott Isaacs, 1989 Bee champion! Scott’s win was just the beginning of a life fueled by curiosity, learning, and a love of words. He’s built a career both diverse and inspiring – serving as a healer, educator, mentor, and global ambassador for spelling.🐝 Happy birthday Scott! ❤️

We’re not saying we wrote a coffee-table book about the Bee…but we did write a coffee-table book about the Bee.🐝📚 To celebrate 100 years of spelling highs and heartbreaks, we created a gorgeous hardcover packed with unforgettable moments. Get your piece of Bee history at https://bit.ly/4jzuk0W 📖

It's not often the same speller has both the first and last word at the Bee. But in 1948, Jean Chappelear from Ohio was Speller 1, so she got the first word, then tackled the final word "psychiatry" for the title – the longest Bee in history to that point, bookended by the brilliance of Jean. 🙌

This month, Kelly Clarkson announced that @kellyclarksontv.bsky.social will wrap after this season. We’re grateful for the joy she’s brought to the Bee community, spotlighting spellers with her annual segment, “Kelly’s Spellys.” Thank you for being such a good friend to spellers everywhere, Kelly. 🙌

Game night, but make it wordy. 🐝 Bee Bingo is our favorite way to sneak learning into family fun. Instead of calling numbers, players tackle words by spelling/defining them, finding synonyms, or using them in a sentence. Get five in a row and victory is yours. 🔗: https://spellingbee.com/bee-bingo.

Roses are red, Violets are blue, Misspell a word And it’s goodbye to you 🐝💔 Happy Valentine’s Day to the real ones who know romance is temporary, but correct spelling is forever. 😄

Bee mine, Valentine! Send one of our Word Nerd-approved cards to your honey, including special messages from some of our officials. 🐝💖

In 2001 and 2002, North Dakota's Kevin Moch made it to the Finals, finishing in 3rd place in 2002.🐝 He graduated from Princeton in 2010, then earned his PhD from Cal Berkeley. A Bee Week volunteer since 2006, Doc Moch took the microphone as an associate pronouncer in 2024. Thanks, Doc! ❤️

From Bee Week to the Super Bowl! 🐝🏈 In 2016, Lexi Ehle was a finalist in our first Spellebrity Video Contest, which earned her a trip to the 2016 Bee. These days, Lexi is a photographer for the New England Patriots – and she was there capturing the action on Super Bowl Sunday. Way to go, Lexi!

When head coach Curt Cignetti took over the Indiana University football program, things were so bad, they couldn't even get the jerseys spelled correctly. Now they are National Champions. Don't be afraid to dream big. Congratulations Hoosier Nation! #MotivationMonday

🐝 Happy birthday to Erin Howard, one of the legendary Octochamps! Erin’s Bee journey started in 2nd grade and carried her to the national stage four times, with four Alabama State Spelling Bee titles along the way. Happy birthday, Erin!🎂 📸: AP/Cliff Owen

Happy birthday to Jairam Hathwar, 2016 Bee Co-Champion!🐝 After 24 unforgettable championship rounds, Jairam and Nihar Janga shared the crown in one of the most dramatic finishes in Bee history. We’ll always remember where we were for that one.🏆