The final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, an annual competition in which knowledgeable children and teens compete to spell some of the most puzzling dictionary entries, begins Thursday.
Contestants, who have not yet graduated from eighth grade or are under 16 years old, travel to Maryland from across the United States and several countries.
The final event of the year will begin at 8pm ET on Thursday and run until around 10pm.
The show airs on Ion, a broadcast television network owned by Scripps Network. The network is available on many cable and satellite providers, as well as some streaming platforms. The Bee's website has a list of streaming platforms that include the network, as well as a tool to find local channels by entering your zip code.
The New York Times has covered the spelling bee for 150 years and will continue that tradition with live coverage of the final event on Thursday from National Harbor, a resort and waterfront development in Maryland.
Last year, Florida eighth-grader Dev Shah won more than $50,000 in prize money and a commemorative medal. The young linguist won a spelling contest by correctly spelling “psammophile.” Dev, who is now in ninth grade, is ineligible to compete this year.
This year's youngest participant is 8 years old and the oldest is 15. Spelling participants hope that if they are descriptive enough, they will be able to break through the spelling and vocabulary multiple choice questions and get the final word.
Definitions are provided by the contest's dictionary partner, Merriam-Webster, and the winner will receive several reference books (and bragging rights) in addition to a cash prize.
