The 72nd Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, D.C., on June 2–3, 1999, sponsored by the E.W.
Fourteen-year-old Nupur Lala, from Tampa, Florida, won the competition by correctly spelling the word "logorrhea".
[1] Third-place was a tie between 11-year old George Abraham Thampy of Maryland Heights, Missouri (who would win the next year) who missed "kirtle", and 13-year old April DeGideo of Ambler, Pennsylvania who missed "terrene".
[4] Fifty-five spellers were eliminated in the fourth round, and 105 contestants made it to the second day of competition.
This caused a fair amount of controversy, with public figure such as Jesse Jackson calling the change "exclusionary".