US Spelling Championships

Middle & Elementary School Divisions Homepage

2025 National Champions:
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US Spelling Bee
US Spelling Championships

The US Spelling Championships Middle & Elementary School Divisions Overview

US Spelling Championships

The US Spelling Championships is a new competition for individual students, which is contested at the IAC Middle and Elementary School National Championships. Competing students will be asked to spell words and the student who spells the most words correctly will be the champion. The preliminary round will consist of 100 words which all students will be asked to spell, and it will take place on Saturday, May 24. The tiebreaker round for top students in tied positions will take place the next day on Sunday, May 25.

  • Eligibility: No prior qualification is required.
  • Competitors:  Individual students. Separate age divisions for 8th Graders, 7th Graders, 6th Graders, 5th Graders, 4th Graders, and for students in 3rd Grade and Younger.
  • Competition Style: Spelling. All students will receive the same words.

  • Inquiries: Contact ems-info@iacompetitions.com

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Students participating in International Academic Competitions events

Competition Format

For students competing in the Middle & Elementary School Divisions, the US Spelling Championships is a one-stage competition, consisting solely of the competition at the National Championships. The USSC will consist of a preliminary round with 100 words that are given to all competitors, along with their parts of speech and definition. After the preliminary round, students who are tied with other students for the top placements in their age division will compete in a tiebreaker round which will consist of a “spell-off” until one student misses a word, or the 35 tiebreaker words have been exhausted, at which point, all remaining students will be confirmed as tied for their placements.

Stage
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National Championships

The National Championships of the US Spelling Championships for the Middle and Elementary School Divisions for the 2024-25 academic year will take place at the Hyatt Regency Orlando on Saturday-Sunday, May 24-25, 2025. The preliminary round will take place on Saturday, May 24, and the tiebreaker round will take place on the following day.

The cost to compete at the 2025 National Championships for the US Spelling Championships is $59. Registration for the National Championships opens in November and runs through early May on this page. Nationals weekend will also feature many other events, including the Opening Ceremonies, a Family Quiz Night, Universal Studios Night, Intro to Model United Nations, various talks and receptions, and the Jeopardy! Charity Games.

For all questions on the 2025 Middle & Elementary School National Championships, please email ems-info@iacompetitions.com.

US Spelling Championships Practice Resources

Study Guides

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Rules & FAQs

The hotels where we have room blocks, especially the host hotel, provide us with meeting space to hold the competitions and with sleeping accommodations for our staff, which we need to fly in from around the country. They do this in return for a commitment to fulfill a large number of sleeping room bookings over the course of Nationals weekend. For students who live near the Nationals host site for whom it would make sense to attend Nationals as a day trip and go back to their home each night, this rule does not apply.