Meet the 8 students representing NC in the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee

Eight North Carolina middle schoolers will compete in the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee next week – in addition to two local spellers from just over the NC border.

This year’s contest in National Harbor, Maryland, marks the 101st anniversary of the national competition, which began in 1925 with nine spellers. In 2026, it includes 247 competitors from around the country. Five spellers will represent countries outside the U.S., including the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is considered the country’s largest and longest-running educational program. No N.C. speller has won the competition since 1970.

This year, one N.C. speller hails from Concord and another from Mooresville. The rest come from Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Fayetteville, Fuquay-Varina and Smithfield, respectively. There are also two competitors from just across the state line in Clover, South Carolina.

Here’s a look at the eight spellers from North Carolina, and two Charlotte-area spellers from Clover, South Carolina, based on their bios on the spelling bee website:

Kushi Gottimukkala

Gottimukkala, 13, is a seventh-grader at Carnage G&T Magnet Middle School in Raleigh. She competed in last year’s spelling bee, where she tied for 41st place. In her free time, Gottimukkala loves reading, especially about history. She also has a passion for Bollywood dance, which she has been performing since she was 4 years old.

Phaneendra Bulusu

Bulusu, 14, is an eighth-grader at Harris Road Middle School in Concord. He previously competed in 2024, when he tied for 60th place. Bulusu loves chess, soccer and playing the flute. His favorite word is “Houyhnhnm” – a fictional group of intelligent horses described in Jonathan Swift’s 1726 novel “Gulliver’s Travels.”

Harini Jayakumar

Jayakumar, 13, is an eighth-grader at The Brawley School in Mooresville. She previously competed in the bee in 2022, when she tied for 89th place, and 2024, when she tied for 60th. Spelling bees aren’t the only competitions she’s used to: Jayakumar loves STEM and competing in science fairs. In her free time, she enjoys singing, gardening and playing softball.

Sach Akella

Akella, 12, is a seventh-grader at Mills Park Middle School in Cary. He previously competed in last year’s bee, tying for 41st place. His favorite subject is math, and he loves to read in his free time (his favorite book is J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). He also loves playing sports and watching movies.

Sophie Sung

Sung, 11, is in fifth grade and homeschooled. She lives in Durham with her four siblings – each of whom also has a name beginning in “S.” Sung enjoys reading and history, and she’s also a competitive distance swimmer. Her dream is to one day beat some of the records of her favorite athlete, U.S. Olympian Katie Ledecky.

Angelika Johnson

Johnson, 11, is a sixth-grader at Seventy-First Classical Middle School in Fayetteville. She’s a self-taught artist who loves to illustrate in her free time. She also participates in a traveling dance troupe. Johnson loves swimming, skating and Friday movie-and-steak nights with her family.

David Grooms

Grooms, 12, is in sixth grade at Lafayette Elementary School in Harnett County. He loves to read mystery and action books as well as the Bible, as he is deeply committed to his Christian faith. Grooms plays lots of sports, including basketball, football, soccer and baseball, though fishing is his favorite way to spend his free time.

Jacob Winfield

Winfield, 13, is an eighth-grader at Innovation Academy in Johnston County. He loves travel and exploring science museums as well as problem-solving – escape rooms are a favorite activity of his. Winfield is also a diehard Beatles fan.

Salonee Birabar

Birabar, 13, is a seventh-grader at Oakridge Middle School in Clover, S.C. She loves reading, singing, writing and learning about new cultures: Birabar has visited 12 countries so far and speaks four languages. Her dream is to one day become a linguistic anthropologist.

Manha Shaik

Shaik, 13, is a seventh-grader at Oakridge Middle School in Clover, S.C. Her hobbies include reading, singing, soccer, badminton and drawing. Shaik also loves horror and sci-fi movies as well as listening to true crime podcasts.

About the Scripps National Spelling Bee

Preliminary rounds begin May 26 at 8 a.m. The semifinals air May 27 at 8 p.m. on ION, while the finals air live on May 28 at 8 p.m.

There are multiple rounds of the competition, and spellers move forward each time they spell a given word correctly within the given minute and 30 seconds. When they spell a word incorrectly, they are eliminated. All spellers eliminated within the same round are tied for the same place. The champion is awarded a $50,000 cash prize.

This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Meet the 8 students representing NC in the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee."