Overview

• Quarterfinal oral rounds on May 28 eliminated 42 of the 99 contestants who passed the written test, leaving 57 semifinalists.
• Participants hail from all 50 states, U.S. territories and five international regions, and each is in eighth grade or below and born on or after September 1, 2009.
• Jay Nayak of Manhattan, Ishaan Gupta of Jersey City and Brian Liu of Great Neck are among local spellers moving on, alongside Harini Murali of Edison, New Jersey.
• Last year’s runner-up, Faizan Zaki of Allen, Texas, topped the written test with a perfect score and secured a spot in the semifinals.
• Semifinal rounds are set for Thursday evening on Bounce XL and ION TV, with Friday’s finals awarding $52,500 in cash and reference works.