Agencies New York

Faizan Zaki, a 13-year-old Indian-American student from Texas, has won the Scripps National Spelling Bee after he spelt "éclaircissement" correctly, maintaining the dominance of the children from the community in the prestigious US competition. 

Zaki bested Sarvadnya Kadam to win the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. A 7th-grade student at C M Rice Middle School, Zaki finished second in 2024 in a spell-off to another Indian-American Bruhat Soma. This was Zaki's fourth time participating in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This was Zaki's fourth time participating in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  

Zaki earned the prestigious title in round 21 when he correctly spelt "éclaircissement," which is defined as "the clearing up of something obscure: enlightenment." He outlasted eight other accomplished spellers to win the title on Thursday night.

The culmination of the national championship came with a shock.  Zaki had an earlier chance to win this year's bee, in the eighteenth round, after mistakes by two other finalists. In what could have been the last round, when there were three left, Sarvadnya Kadam and Sarv Dharavane got their words wrong. It seemed to be Zaki's big chance. But he rushed to spell his word before a proper explanation and got the first letter wrong.

Hardly before the word "commelina" had left the pronouncer's mouth, Zaki jumped on it, saying, "k-a-m --" He recognised his mistake right away, but it was too late.  As he spelt the winning word, Zaki fell on the stage in joy as confetti rained down.

"I don't know what to say. I'm just really happy," he said.  Organisers congratulated Zaki's parents and his grandparents, who were watching the competition from their home in Hyderabad.  "I can't describe it," Zaki said minutes later. "It's so amazing, getting to this point. Winning? I never expected this."  Adam Symson, president and CEO of the E W Scripps Company, presented the championship trophy.