May 30, 2023 - News
Chicago students compete in National Spelling Bee
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The Scripps National Spelling Bee began Tuesday with its 95th competition.
- More than 200 contestants, including several from Chicago and its suburbs, will compete over three days in National Harbor, Maryland.
State of p-l-a-y: Spellers competed in local and regional rounds in early April to make it to this week's broadcasted competition.
- Last year, the broadcast drew over 7.5 million viewers, the largest television audience since 2015.
Zoom in: Fourteen Illinois smarties made it to the competition, and several from the Chicago area are still in the running, as of Tuesday afternoon.
- Annette Chu, 13, attends GEMS World Academy Chicago and enjoys reading, listening to music and playing badminton. Her favorite candy is South Patch Kids.
- Srinidhi Rao, 13, previously competed in the Bee in 2019 and 2021 and attends Hinsdale Middle School. She won her first spelling bee in the second grade. Srinidhi loves to play pickleball and enjoys chewing Dubble Bubble.
- Steven Jiang, 13, attends Chicago's Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and is involved in several extracurriculars, including the school newspaper, the math team and business club. His favorite sport is soccer.
- Vishrut Kinikar, 13, attends Cary Junior High School in Cary. He loves to read, write, play chess and practice the guitar. He also enjoys riding his bike and being in nature.
- Daphne Gil, 14, attends Alan B. Shepard Middle School in Deerfield. She plays the piano in several ensembles including jazz band and Jewish folk music. Her favorite historical figure is Nelson Mandela and she enjoys swimming.
How to watch: The Bee will air on ION and Bounce. Viewers can visit spellingbee.com/watch and enter a ZIP code for specific viewer instructions.