National Spelling Bee ends in an unprecedented eight-way tie

The New York Times

The Scripps National Spelling Bee has had six two-way ties since its debut in 1925, but it has never had more than two winners in a single night. But after midnight on Friday morning, the Spelling Bee decided that after 20 rounds, it would throw in the towel and crown the eight remaining finalists as co-champions since it was running out of words. “We do have plenty of words remaining in our list, but we’ll soon run out of words that will challenge you,” said Jacques Bailly, the event’s pronouncer. The winner would normally receive $50,000 and a trophy, but each of the eight finalists will receive $50,000 and a trophy instead of splitting the prize eight ways. Co-champions Rishik Gandhasri, Erin Howard, Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Sohum Sukhatankar, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao and Rohan Raja all range in age from 12 to 14. Earlier in the evening, The Washington Post's Amy Argetsinger predicted an eight-way tie, tweeting: "The #SpellingBee kids have gotten too good. At this pace we won’t have a winner until 4:30 am. Or we’ll have an eight-way tie for first." She later added: "It is no longer about spelling skills. It’s become a game of physical endurance...The #SpellingBee is officially broken." " Former ESPN reporter Darren Rovell questioned whether an eight-way tie was the right decision. "People will say that the Spelling Bee with 8 champions makes the trophy a floccinaucinihilipilification (valueless)," he tweeted.