At the end of last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, Faizan Zaki grimaced, nodded his head and offered a gracious handshake as runner-up to winner Bruhat Soma after a dramatic spell-off.
One year later, Zaki stood alone, with a trophy in hand.
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The 13-year-old Allen, Texas native beat out eight other finalists to win the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday at 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 cash from Scripps, a medal and the Scripps Cup trophy
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$2,500 cash from Merriam-Webster, plus a reference library from the dictionary company.
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$400 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
First runner-up Sarvadnya Kadam will receive $25,000, while second runner-up Sarv Dharavane will get $15,000. Zaki had previously competed three times in the spelling bee, finishing 370th in 2019, 21st in 2023 and as the runner-up in 2024.
The fourth time was the charm 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 jumped the gun and started spelling before bothering to ask for the definition or origin. Three letters in — «K, A, M» — Zaki realized his mistake.
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Kadam and Dharavane re-entered the competition, with Dharavane quipping, «This is surprising.» Fortunately for Zaki, Dharavane misspelled his next word too, while Kadam fell in the next round, setting him up to take the title.
On the final word, longtime spelling bee pronouncer, and former champion, Jacques Bailly playfully asked for «all of us to take a deep breath,» to which Zaki deadpanned, «That did not help at all.» Zaki again didn’t ask for the definition or origin of «éclaircissement,» but he clearly had the letters in his head as soon as he heard it.
And as soon as the judges confirmed 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 way to victory here.
