Marco Island girl will compete in 97th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee

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Marco Island girl will compete in 97th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee

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has resulted in a Florida winner twice in a row: Largo

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in 2023 and St. Petersburg

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in 2024.

Will the Sunshine State pull off a threepeat this year?

There will be 12 contestants from Florida among the 243 spellers

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. Two contestants have a special tie to Southwest Florida, including one Marco Island student.

Here’s what to know about this year’s spelling bee.

When is the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee?

“Bee Week” begins with preliminaries at 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 27. The quarterfinals are the next day, Wednesday, May 28, and the semifinals happen that same evening. The competition wraps up with the finals on Thursday, May 29.

How can I watch the 2025 National Spelling Bee?

Preliminaries, May 27: Will be streamed on Scripps News networks Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, and Laff More, and at

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from 8 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. ET

Quarterfinals, May 28: Will be streamed on Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, and Laff More, and at spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. ET

Semifinals, May 28: Will stream live on Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, and Laff More, and at spellingbee.com from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. ET and air 8-10 p.m. on ION

Finals, May 29: Will air live from 8-10 p.m. on ION

Encore presentations of the semifinals will air on Scripps News on Thursday, May 29, from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., and of the finals on May 29 from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The Scripps Networks can be found free over-the-air as well as on cable, satellite and streaming platforms. You can enter your ZIP code at

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for instructions on how to watch the Bee in a specific area.

Are there kids from Naples or Fort Myers competing in the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee?

There’s two contestants from Southwest Florida this year: 14-year-old Nicasio David from Fort Myers and 13-year-old Sophia Jolie Schoenrock from Marco Island.

Meet Marco Island contestant Sophia Schoenrock

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is sponsoring 13-year-old Schoenrock, who attends

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According to her

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, Schoenrock loves reading and playing the clarinet. In her free time, she plays catcher and second baseman with the

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Her favorite movie is “Ocean’s 11” and her favorite subject in school is algebra.

Schoenrock was born in Germany and moved to the United States when she was six years old. She didn’t speak any English at the time. Now, seven years later, she’s competing in the nation’s 97th Spelling Bee.

Who are the Florida kids competing in the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee?

Hadi Abbasi, 12, Franklin Academy Pembroke Pines, Miami

Louis Avetis, 12, Discovery Middle School, Orlando

Nicasio David, 14, Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School, Fort Myers

Cecily Dean, 13, Leon County Home Schoolers, Tallahassee

Diego Gallegos, 11, Lakemont Elementary School, Orlando

Elias Benjamin Javelona, 13, of Howard Middle School, Belleview

Vlada Kozhevnikova, 12, Pinellas Academy of Math & Science, St. Petersburg

Moksh Maru, 10, Wilson Elementary School, Sanford

Nikhail Sha, 13, Palmetto Middle School, Miami

Sophia Jolie Schoenrock, 13, Marco Island Charter Middle School, Naples

Sree Vidya Siliveri, 14, Alice B. Landrum Middle School, Jacksonville

Aiden Westover, 14, Odyssey Middle School, Orlando

How many times has someone from Florida won the national spelling bee?

A Florida contestant has won four times in the history of the national spelling bee, according to Scripps data: Soma in 2024 on his second try, Shah in 2023 on the third try, Nupur Lala of Tampa in 1999, who won in her second appearance, and Wendy Guoy of West Palm Beach in 1996, who won after four tries.

The state with the most wins is Texas, with 16. Twenty-one states have never had a national spelling bee champion.

How does the Scripps National Spelling Bee work?

Starting in September, spelling bees in classrooms work up to regional spelling bees in February and March to determine national competitors. Spellers may not be older than 15 or past the eighth grade, and former champions may not compete again.

During the spelling bee, kids compete in:

Spelling rounds, where they have 90 seconds to correctly spell a word after it has been pronounced. They may ask for definitions, usage, language, the part of speech, alternate pronunciation or just to hear it again, but not in the last 15 seconds.

Vocabulary rounds: Originally part of a written test, this was made an onstage element in 2021. Spellers are given 30 seconds to answer a multiple-choice question about the definition of a word.

Written test: Spellers who advance through rounds 1 and 2 will take round 3 written test on spelling and vocabulary. Scores determine who moves on to the quarterfinals.

Spell-offs: Introduced in 2021, officials may call for a spell-off to conclude the finals. Spellers have 90 seconds to spell as many words as possible while their competition cannot hear. Each speller gets the same words in the same order. Last year, Florida’s Bruhat Soma set a record at 29 words.

What do spelling bee champions win?

The champion gets $50,000 cash, a commemorative medal, and the Scripps Cup championship trophy. They will also receive $2,500 cash and a reference library from Merriam-Webster, $400 of reference works and a 3-year online membership from Encyclopædia Britannica, the school of their choice gets $1,000 in Scholastic credit, and their school and regional partner get an engraved plaque.

Finalists get a commemorative medal and:

Eliminated from first round of finals to 7th place: $2,000

Semifinalists get a commemorative medal and a $500 gift card, and quarterfinalists get a commemorative pin and a $100 gift card. All competitors receive a prize package, subscriptions to Merriam-Webster, Britannica Online Premium, and the Regional Champions’ School, and a 2025 U.S. Mint proof set.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News:

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