Photo: Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images News / Getty Images
Adeel Hassan, a 13-year-old from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, participated in the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year. The competition took place at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, with 243 contestants from across the United States and other regions, including Canada, Puerto Rico, Nigeria, and Kuwait.
Hassan was among nine finalists who made it to the final rounds of the competition. Unfortunately, he was eliminated in the first round of the finals after incorrectly defining the word "imbroglio" during the vocabulary round. Despite the setback, Hassan's participation in the prestigious event marked a significant achievement.
The 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee concluded with Faizan Zaki, a 13-year-old from Plano, Texas, winning the championship by correctly spelling "éclaircissement," meaning "the clearing up of something obscure." Zaki, who was the runner-up in the previous year's competition, took home the winning prize of $50,000.
This year's bee also introduced a new program called "beelieve," aimed at providing free spelling bee programming for Title 1 schools that enroll high numbers of low-income families. The initiative is part of the bee's centennial celebration and aims to keep the competition accessible to all students.