This year, 247 spellers including one from Nebraska, eight from Missouri and one from Kansas earned their spots as national competitors by advancing through regional spelling bees, competing against students representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. Spellers will also represent five countries outside the U.S.: the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
For the first time since 1957, Bee Week will take place between two different venues.
The new home of the National Competition is DAR Constitution Hall, a National Historic Landmark Building and the largest concert hall in Washington, D.C. The National Competition will begin with the Preliminaries on Tuesday, May 26, and conclude with the Finals on Thursday, May 28.
On Tuesday, preliminary rounds will stream on Scripps Sports Network and spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT.
Wednesday's quarterfinals will stream on Scripps Sports Network and spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and semifinals can be watched on those platforms from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Finals will broadcast Thursday on ION from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.