Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Faizan Zaki on his winning moment and resilient comeback
Faizan Zaki was the big winner at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which celebrated its 100th anniversary.
At the first Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1925, there were only nine participants. This year, 243 kids from across the country competed for the championship title.
Zaki, from Allen, Texas, correctly spelled "éclaircissement" for the win, a word he said he instantly recognized.
"I know that from … my previous studying. It means enlightenment and … it comes from French. So I just knew all that in my head and, so I just got right to spelling," Zaki said.
But before his victory, in the final minutes of the competition, Zaki, along with the two other finalists, missed their words, sending the contest into another round.
"There was a word that I got earlier, 'Commelina' and without thinking, I started spelling and so then I realized, 'oh, I need to slow down.' I asked for the information and then I realized that what I had spelled was wrong."
NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND - MAY 29: Faizan Zaki, 13, of Dallas, Texas holds the Scripps Cup after winning in the 21st round of the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center on May 29, 2025 in National Harbor, Maryland.
Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images
Zaki described his spelling process, saying he likes to get a general idea of the word first.
"Basically, I hear the word and I try to get the information about the word before I spell," he said.
The 13-year-old was last year's runner-up and encouraged people to never give up on their dreams.
"If you really are passionate about something and stick to it then you can get it done since that's what I did. Like last year, I got second and I was really disappointed and I was really sad that I didn't win. But the next year, I just kept on studying and studying and studying and now I'm here, I have the trophy," Zaki said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
26 minutes ago
- Associated Press
4-time defending Women's CWS champ Oklahoma beats Oregon 4-1 to reach semifinals, eliminate Ducks
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Cydney Sanders hit two home runs and four-time defending national champion Oklahoma beat Oregon 4-1 on Sunday night to reach the Women's College World Series semifinals and eliminate the Ducks. Sanders' two-run homer in the third put the Sooners up 3-1, and her solo shot in the fifth made it 4-1. Isabela Emerling hit a solo home run for the Sooners (52-8). Dezianna Patmon's homer provided the only run for Oregon. Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso got the win against Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi, a longtime assistant for her with the Sooners. Oklahoma will play Texas Tech in the semifinals on Monday for the right to play in the best-of-three championship series. The Sooners will need to beat the Red Raiders and star pitcher NiJaree Canady twice to advance in the double-elimination format, while the Red Raiders will need just one win to play for the national title for the first time. Oklahoma's Sam Landry earned the win on Sunday in 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. She allowed two hits, struck out six and walked one. Ella Parker and Kasidi Pickering each had two hits for the Sooners. Oregon (54-10) won the Big Ten regular-season championship in its first year in the league.
Associated Press
26 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Zach Daudet's 11th-inning walk-off home run sends Cal Poly to regional championship round
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Zach Daudet's walk-off home run in the 11th inning lifted Cal Poly to a 7-6 victory over Utah Valley on Sunday night and the Mustangs reached the championship round of the Eugene Regional. The Mustangs (43-19) advanced to play Arizona later Sunday night. A win by Cal Poly would force a deciding game on Monday. A win by Arizona would wrap up the regional championship and send the Wildcats to the super regionals. Landon Frei's third-inning grand slam gave Utah Valley a 4-1 lead. Cal Poly responded with five runs in the bottom of the fourth. Cam Hoiland hit a leadoff home run for the Mustangs and Ryan Fenn came through with a two-out RBI single. Daudet scored on a balk and Nate Castellon doubled in two more runs for a 6-4 lead. Utah Valley (33-29) caught up with a leadoff home run by Dominic Longo II in the sixth and an RBI double by Jayden Smith in the seventh. Jaccob Torres (6-4), who came in and got the third out in the ninth inning to leave the bases loaded, got the win for Cal Poly. He did not allow a hit in 2 1/3 innings pitched. Carston Herman (5-4) took the loss after giving up Daudet's home run. ___ AP college sports:
Forbes
26 minutes ago
- Forbes
Rays Held Yard Sale Before ‘Turning Over Keys' To Tropicana Field For Roof Repairs
A sampling of the seemingly endless inventory of caps available at the Tampa Bay Rays' yard sale on ... More May 31, 2025. The sale was held in the parking lot of Tropicana Field. Bill Walsh likened the preparation for the Tampa Bay Rays' charity yard sale held Saturday to an average household's spring cleaning. The many items collected range from mugs to shirts and everything in between. In the process, there might a surprise or two in the form of something that had been long forgotten about, but evoked a memory or two. 'Everyone that does spring cleaning in their house, I think they find things they didn't know they had,' said Walsh, the Rays' chief business officer. 'It is pretty much the same here on a different scale.' A different scale? How about 28 seasons worth of promotional items and other inventory. Then there were a few items scheduled to be given away to fans that were, well, not given away. An example would be a Willy Adames bobblehead that was scheduled to be handed out to attending fans at Tropicana Field on May 30, 2020. Nobody was going to baseball games, or doing much of anything else, on that date due to the pandemic. When the season finally began in late July, fans were not permitted to attend. The Adames bobble, and other items, were added to the following season's promotional schedule. Hence, the Rays announced June 9, 2021 would be the date the Adames collectible would finally be handed out. However, the shortstop was dealt to the Brewers on May 21. What to do with all of the bobbleheads? The answer arrived nearly four years later when they were available to those attending the Rays' yard sale in the Trop parking lot. Similarly, and more recently, the Rays were to give away a set of three shoe charms to kids 14 and under last August 11. The players featured were Yandy Diaz, Zach Eflin and Josh Lowe. Eflin was dealt to the Orioles on July 26. Guess which team the Rays played the day the item would have been given away? In fact, Eflin blanked Tampa Bay over seven innings in picking up the win two days earlier with his new team. Kids finally got the charms at the yard sale. 'We have had a chance to put eyes on everything in all parts of the building over the last six months or so in a way that we just haven't in the last 25-plus years,' said Walsh, of scavenging Tropicana Field post-Hurricane Milton and gathering more than 75,000 items for the public to pick through. 'Almost any promotional giveaway we had, there were some left over that we found.' Shoe charms that were to be given away to Rays fans at a game in 2024, but were pulled from the ... More promotional calendar when Zach Eflin was traded before the giveaway date. Such items included bobbleheads, sweatshirts, t-shirts, tumblers, blankets and those related to group nights such as in-state universities (USF Day or UCF Day) and other themed celebrations. The many fans who weathered the rain in St. Petersburg on Saturday morning while waiting to enter two tents that had table after table full of items paid $20 for a bag they could overstuff. When the bag was full, fans could pay another $20 for each additional bag. The opportunity made for yard sale-type bargains considering what someone could walk away with. The city of St. Petersburg announced in early April that it approved $23 million for '…the cost of fabrication, delivery, and installation of PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) roof membrane.' In other words, the Trop will receive a new top. Walsh noted the hope was that prep work would commence in mid-June with exterior repairs visible perhaps eight weeks thereafter. With that in mind, it was time to perform the massive spring cleaning and get out of the way. 'The genesis of this is really the city taking on the repair of the roof,' said Walsh. 'What we are going to do is turn over the keys of the building to the city for that period of time. We need to get everything that is ours out of the way so they can work. There will be hundreds of workers setting up to install (roof) panels, which be in August.' The Tropicana Field parking lot was the sight of a Tampa Bay Rays yard sale May 31, 2025. More than ... More 75,000 items were piled up on tables within two tents. Hence, it was time to get busy with literally taking inventory on what was hiding in storage spaces and other areas of the building and making the items available to fans. Several Rays employees made the day possible with the Rays Baseball Foundation, the ballclub's charitable arm, benefitting from the sale. 'It all came together in three weeks,' said Walsh, somewhat joking the Rays have had to become accustomed to doing most everything in tight windows this year, including the massive chore of getting Steinbrenner Field ready for the regular season in a matter of a few days. 'A lot of folks really rallied and worked very hard to pull this off and get it set up. Our community engagement department and our foundation folks took the lead on it with setting up the logistics.'
