Three years ago, organizers of the Scripps National Spelling Bee changed their rules after back-to-back contests ended in a tie. Yet the conundrum returned during this year’s competition Thursday night, which ended in an unprecedented eight-way tie after the “octochamps” ably spelled every word thrown at them.
"This does not actually surprise us at all,” Paige Kimble, the Bee’s executive director, said after the event. “We didn’t go into the competition tonight not knowing that this was a possibility and not having a plan.”
Experts and observers in the competitive spelling world agreed that survival of eight contestants through 20 rounds in the 94-year-old contest was an impressive performance, but some wondered whether the competition could — and perhaps should — have been harder.
The average viewer may have been stumped by any of the words the winners overcame in the final rounds, which included the likes of “pendeloque,” “erysipelas” and “aiguillette.” But Linda Tarrant, chief executive of spelling bee coaching company Hexco, said all of those words are included on common spelling study lists.
“It’s an awkward thing to have eight winners,” Tarrant said. “I think it dilutes the winning.”
Bee spokeswoman Valerie Miller did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Mitch Kaplan, whose daughter Simone made the finals, said although the finalists were evenly matched, an eight-way tie may not have been the best outcome.
“I don’t think the degree of difficulty kept going up enough,” he said. “They probably need to do something not to have this happen again.”
This isn’t the first time Bee winners have had to share the spotlight. Until 2014, there hadn’t been a tie in more than 50 years, according to the Associated Press. But from 2014 to 2016, two co-champions battled to a draw and shared the trophy, prompting Scripps to change the rules.
Organizers added tougher words in 2016 and implemented a tiebreaker in 2017 and 2018 — a written test between the semifinals and finals. The changes appeared to work. For the next two years, there was only one winner. Ironically, they did away with the tiebreaker this year, although it wouldn’t have broken an eight-way tie.
“During our history, students have expanded their spelling abilities and increased their vocabulary to push our program to be even more challenging,” Kimble said in a statement at the time.
In 2017, a written test was added to the first round, which requires contestants not only to spell words but also to define them, a departure from the traditional spelling bee. This year, 2018 runner-up Naysa Modi failed to qualify for the final 50 spellers because of her score on the written test, despite spelling all of the words correctly.
Tarrant favors incorporating even more of these vocabulary skills in the Bee, a move she said could help narrow the field while also encouraging kids to build another area of knowledge.
"The kids are crackerjack spellers,” she said, but added, “The whole point of words is to know how to use them.”
There are other ways to avoid a similar outcome in another marathon spell-off next year, said Shalini Shankar, a professor at Northwestern University and author of “Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal About Generation Z’s New Path to Success.” She said organizers could have used a “lawn mower round” of especially hard words to narrow the field earlier in the competition.
The performance of the eight co-champions is a testament to their preparation, Shankar said, which is largely a result of a cottage industry that has sprung up for personal coaches and study software, such as that produced by Hexco. But that kind of expert help comes at a price, with coaches charging as much as $200 an hour.
“Technically, anyone can make it in,” Shankar said, “but how you have to perform to get there, or the monetary backing you need to get yourself there, that has definitely changed.”
Each of the eight winners will receive $50,000, Kimble confirmed after the Bee.
Rahul Walia, founder of the South Asian Spelling Bee, said adding geographical and proper names could make the contest more challenging.
But with the focus and dedication of elite athletes — and resources to match — there may be no stopping the young contestants from overcoming any new challenges Bee organizers throw at them.
“These kids are extremely well trained,” Walia said. “They’re almost like machines.”
