Arizona State Spelling Bee Champions

Spelling Bee Winners

2026 – 1st Place – Esha Marupudi, 8th Grade, Age 13, BASIS Chandler, Independent Charter School District, Maricopa Region 6; 2nd Place – Smriti Parajuli, 8th Grade, Age 13, Centennial Middle School, Crane Elementary School District, Yuma County Region
2025 – 1st Place – Esha Marupudi, 7th Grade, Age 12, BASIS Chandler, Independent Charter School District, Maricopa Region 6; 2nd Place – Sumukh Tirumalasetty, 4th Grade, Age 9, New Vistas Center for Education, Private Educational Institution, Maricopa Region 6; 3rd Place – Salman Rashid, 6th Grade, Age 11, Harmon Elementary School, J.O. Combs Unified School District, Pinal County
2024 – 1st Place – Aliyah Alpert, 8th Grade, Age 13, Alpert Home School, Homeschool, Yavapai County; 2nd Place – Isabelle Garcia, 7th Grade, Age 13, Kyrene del Pueblo Middle School, Kyrene Elementary School District, Maricopa Region 1
2023 – 1st Place – Karen Opoku-Appoh, 8th Grade, Age 13, Marana Middle School, Marana Unified School District, Pima County; 2nd Place – Opal Mishra, 6th Grade, Age 12, Basha Accelerated Middle School, Chandler Unified School District, Maricopa County Region 6
2022 – Aliyah Alpert, Alpert Homeschool (Prescott)
2021 – Tanish Doshi, BASIS Oro Valley (Oro Valley)
2020 – The 2020 Bee was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.
2019 – Omkar Bharath, 6th Grade, Desert Canyon Middle School (Scottsdale)
2018 – Marcus Giorza, 7th Grade, Madison #1 (Phoenix)
2017 – Penda Ba, Sossaman Middle School (Queen Creek)
2016 – Nicola Ferguson, Sunrise Middle School (Scottsdale)
2015 – Marcus Behling, Arizona College Prep Erie (Chandler)
2014 – Nila Dhinaker, Cooley Middle School (Gilbert)
2013 – Christopher O’Connor, St. Cyril of Alexandria Catholic School (Tucson)
2012 – Sumaita Mulk, Herberger Young Scholars Academy (Glendale)
2011 – Mitchell Behling, Hamilton Prep Academy (Chandler)
2010 – Anjali Nair, McKemy Middle School (Tempe)
2009 – So-Young Chung, Terramar Elementary School (Peoria)
2008 – So-Young Chung, Terramar Elementary School (Peoria)
2007 – Jonathan Horton, East Valley Home School Educators (Gilbert)
2006 – Jonathan Horton, East Valley Home School Educators (Gilbert)
2005 – Jonathan Horton, East Valley Home School Educators (Gilbert)
2004 – Maddy Kloss, Ingleside Middle School (Phoenix)
2003 – Gavin King, Bogle Junior High School (Chandler)
2002 – Varun Rajan, Anderson Junior High School (Chandler)
2001 – Tristan Day, Snowflake Junior High School (Snowflake)