Tallahassee 13-year-old heads to Scripps National Spelling Bee. Here's when, how to watch
Tallahassee's own Cecily Dean is set to compete at the 100th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee later this month.
The 13-year-old seventh-grade homeschooler is one of 12 contestants from Florida among the 243 spellers in the 97th National Spelling Bee, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year (it was skipped three times during World War II and once in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Envision Credit Union, which was founded by educators in Leon County, will be sponsoring Cecily's place in the competition.
"Envision Credit Union is proud to be a regional sponsor of the Scripps Spelling Bee and celebrate the achievements of outstanding students like Cecily Dean, our 2025 Envision Credit Union Regional Spelling Bee Champion,' Andre Harris, Community Development Manager for Envision Credit Union said.
'By supporting local students like Cecily as they advance to the national stage, we're not only showcasing the strength of our community's education system but also continuing the legacy we began as a credit union founded by teachers and investing in the next generation of leaders.'
This is not the first time Tallahassee has had a student compete in the national bee. Last year, Allie Windsor, a Holy Comforter Episcopal School student, competed on the national stage.
In 2024, 12-year-old Bruhat Soma of St. Petersburg won the 96th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in a record-breaking 29-word spell-off. The year before, eighth-grader Dev Shah of Largo took the prize with the word "psammophile."
Can the Sunshine State pull off a threepeat this year in the surprisingly watchable event?
Soma and Shah, along with nearly 40 other former winners, will both be attending the 2025 finals in Maryland on May 29 to greet and sign posters, according to a release from Scripps. Soma, now an eighth-grader, will also be featured throughout "Bee Week" during the television broadcast and/or livestream.
Here's what to know.
Preliminaries will begin at 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 27. The quarterfinals are the next day, Wednesday, May 28, the semifinals happen that same evening, and the finals will be in the evening on Thursday, May 29.
Preliminaries, May 27: Will be streamed on Scripps News networks Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, and Laff More, and at spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. ET
Quarterfinals, May 28: Will be streamed on Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, and Laff More, and at spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. ET
Semifinals, May 28: Will stream live on Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, and Laff More, and at spellingbee.com from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. ET and air 8-10 p.m. on ION
Finals, May 29: Will air live from 8-10 p.m. on ION
Encore presentations of the semifinals will air on Scripps News on Thursday, May 29, from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., and of the finals on May 29 from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The Scripps Networks can be found free over-the-air as well as on cable, satellite and streaming platforms. You can enter your ZIP code at spellingbee.com/watch for instructions on how to watch the Bee in a specific area.
Hadi Abbasi, 12, Franklin Academy Pembroke Pines, Miami
Louis Avetis, 12, Discovery Middle School, Orlando
Nicasio David, 14, Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School, Fort Myers
Cecily Dean, 13, Leon County Home Schoolers, Tallahassee
Diego Gallegos, 11, Lakemont Elementary School, Orlando
Elias Benjamin Javelona, 13, of Howard Middle School, Belleview
Vlada Kozhevnikova, 12, Pinellas Academy of Math & Science, St. Petersburg
Moksh Maru, 10, Wilson Elementary School, Sanford
Nikhail Sha, 13, Palmetto Middle School, Miami
Sophia Jolie Schoenrock, 13, Marco Island Charter Middle School, Naples
Sree Vidya Siliveri, 14, Alice B. Landrum Middle School, Jacksonville
Aiden Westover, 14, Odyssey Middle School, Orlando
A Florida contestant has won four times in the history of the national spelling bee, according to Scripps data: Soma in 2024 on his second try, Shah in 2023 on the third try, Nupur Lala of Tampa in 1999, who won in her second appearance, and Wendy Guoy of West Palm Beach in 1996, who won after four tries.
The state with the most wins is Texas, with 16. Twenty-one states have never had a national spelling bee champion.
Starting in September, spelling bees in classrooms work up to regional spelling bees in February and March to determine national competitors. Spellers may not be older than 15 or past the eighth grade, and former champions may not compete again.
During the spelling bee, kids compete in:
Spelling rounds, where they have 90 seconds to correctly spell a word after it has been pronounced. They may ask for definitions, usage, language, the part of speech, alternate pronunciation or just to hear it again, but not in the last 15 seconds.
Vocabulary rounds: Originally part of a written test, this was made an onstage element in 2021. Spellers are given 30 seconds to answer a multiple-choice question about the definition of a word.
Written test: Spellers who advance through rounds 1 and 2 will take round 3 written test on spelling and vocabulary. Scores determine who moves on to the quarterfinals.
Spell-offs: Introduced in 2021, officials may call for a spell-off to conclude the finals. Spellers have 90 seconds to spell as many words as possible while their competition cannot hear. Each speller gets the same words in the same order. Last year, Florida's Bruhat Soma set a record at 29 words.
The champion gets $50,000 cash, a commemorative medal, and the Scripps Cup championship trophy. They will also receive $2,500 cash and a reference library from Merriam-Webster, $400 of reference works and a 3-year online membership from Encyclopædia Britannica, the school of their choice gets $1,000 in Scholastic credit, and their school and regional partner get an engraved plaque.
Finalists get a commemorative medal and:
Eliminated from first round of finals to 7th place: $2,000
6th place: $2,500
5th place: $5,000
4th place: $10,000
3rd place: $15,000
2nd place: $25,000
Semifinalists get a commemorative medal and a $500 gift card, and quarterfinalists get a commemorative pin and a $100 gift card. All competitors receive a prize package, subscriptions to Merriam-Webster, Britannica Online Premium, and the Regional Champions' School, and a 2025 U.S. Mint proof set.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Scripps National Spelling Bee 2025: What to know, dates, how to watch
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