List of Scripps National Spelling Bee champions

[2] The first champion was Frank Neuhauser of Louisville, who beat eight other finalists to win the inaugural competition.

The first such occurrence was in 1950, when Dean Colquitt and Diana Reynard were declared co-champions after the contestants had exhausted the list of available words.

[5][6] After three consecutive ties between 2014 and 2016, a written tiebreaker round was introduced, but it was discontinued for the 2019 Bee,[7] which subsequently resulted in an unprecedented eight-way tie when the organizers ended the final session after the remaining contestants had completed five consecutive perfect rounds.

In 1998, Jody-Anne Maxwell from Jamaica became the first speller from outside the US to win the Bee,[9][10] as well as the first black winner.

[1][12] One such speller, Nihar Janga from Austin, Texas, became the youngest champion in the Bee's history when he won the title in 2016 at the age of 11.