After a more than two-hour finale Thursday night, Faizan Zaki emerged from the hive to win the championship at the 100th anniversary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Zaki, from Allen, Texas, won by correctly spelling "éclaircissement."
The 2024 runner-up became the comeback kid, cementing his status as a Bee champion this year and adding his name to the 100-year legacy of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
"I'm just glad to say that I've fulfilled those expectations and even went like beyond them," Faizan said. "So, I'm really happy."
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Winning the Bee comes with a big payoff: a $50,000 grand prize.
The new Bee champion is already setting his sights on other competitions.
"I might go into the Math Olympiad, since I really enjoy math," Faizan said. "There's also like a linguistics competition. I might do that too since I'm really passionate about linguistics and language and spelling in general."
Faizan mentioned that he didn't always see himself becoming a champion, but eventually decided to get serious about spelling.
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"From first grade to fourth grade, I had no intent of winning. I thought, OK, I'll just go for fun," he said. "But then, in fifth grade, I really started getting serious and I had that drive to win."
It is a passion for words that paid off.
The final night of spelling began with the nine finalists taking on the dictionary. As the night progressed through multiple rounds of spelling and vocabulary, Faizan emerged as the winner after his fourth time competing in the Bee. His family and friends cheered him on from the audience.
"They were really supportive and helpful along the way," Faizan said. "A lot of them help me—like they quiz me on words. Some of them are my coaches. So, just having them all be there for me was amazing."
Scripps News is a subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company, which runs the Bee on a not-for-profit basis.
