What do you do when you run out of words at the Scripps National Spelling Bee? You don’t declare just one winner – you crown eight co-champions! In an extraordinary situation, the kids went the final five rounds without misspelling a single word.
Dr.Jacques Bailly said they "threw the dictionary” at those eight children, and the champions “showed the dictionary who was boss.” The kids: Rishik Gandhasri, Erin Howard, Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Sohum Sukhatankar, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao and Rohan Raja spelled the final 47 words correctly in all.
As for the cash? While the Bee had originally planned to split the first- and second-place money in the event of a tie, this historic situation means that EACH speller was given the full $50,000 cash prize, in addition to a Scripps Cup.
Source:ESPN