North Carolina student comes close to winning National Spelling Bee
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
North Carolina came close on Thursday night to having the best speller in the nation for the first time since 1970.
Read more Report: NC sees big drop in teacher union membership and union strength
Kushi Gottimukkala, 13, of Morrisville, finished in fourth place in the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Gottimukkala made it into the sixth round of Thursday night’s finals in Washington D.C. before missing the word “cara sposa,” which means dear wife.
“Oh Kushi, what an amazing performance tonight,” Mary Brooks, the head judge said after Gottimukkala was eliminated. “You are an incredible speller, and we will hope to see you back. Great job.”
Gottimukkala, a seventh-grade student at Carnage Middle School in Raleigh, left the stage amid a tremendous round of applause. She’ll get a $10,000 prize for her fourth-place finish after having finished 41st last year.
Shrey Parikh of California beat Ishaan Gupta of New Jersey in a spell-off to win the Spelling Bee.
This year, 247 spellers from across the world, including eight from North Carolina, qualified for the national competition.
Nine rounds of competition had whittled the field down to nine finalists by Thursday night.
Gottimukkala breezed through rounds 10 through 14 on Thursday night’s finals as five other spellers fell.
Read more A new Mooresville restaurant is on the way from the Kindreds
But in Round 15, Gottimukkala spelled the Italian word “cara sposa” as “carra spoza.”
Gottimukkala is eligible to compete one more time next year.
When she’s not spelling, her biography on the Spelling Bee website says Gottimukkala enjoys being part of a team, whether it’s Science Olympiad, MathCounts or her Bollywood dance group. She also likes reading and is particularly interested in history and documentaries.
“She also plays volleyball,” sports personality Mina Kimes, the host of the Spelling Bee said during Thursday night’s television broadcast. “She’s been doing Bollywood dance for eight years she told us. She has many interests outside of spelling, but I expect her to continue to spell at the Bee next year.”
Only two students from North Carolina have won in the 101 years of the National Spelling Bee. The words have gotten considerably harder since those two victories.
In 1952, Doris Ann Hall of Hudson in Caldwell County won on the word “vignette.”
In 1970, Libby Childress of Mount Airy in Surry County won on the word “croissant.”
The closest a North Carolinian has come to winning in recent years was in 2024 when Ananya Rao Prassanna of Cary finished in third place.
This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 10:57 PM with the headline “North Carolina student comes close to winning National Spelling Bee.”
Read more Report: NC sees big drop in teacher union membership and union strength
