The National Spelling Bee began in 1925 with nine contestants. It was sponsored by the Louisvile Courier-Journal, which had conducted a statewide match to find the best grade-school spellers in Kentucky, and then decided to extend a challenge to other newspapers to choose their own champions to take part in a spelling showdown in Washington, D.C., to determine a national champion.

In 1941, Scripps took over sponsorship of the National Spelling Bee. There was no Scripps National Spelling Bee during the war years of 1943–45.

Co-champions were declared in 1950, 1957, and 1962. Of the 84 champions, 43 have been girls and 41 have been boys.

The program experienced steady growth between the 1920s and the 1970s, and between 1980 and 1990 the number of participants doubled. In recent years the program underwent a second growth spurt—and a significant surge in popularity—thanks to live primetime coverage on ABC; live daytime coverage on ESPN; the Oscar-nominated documentary, Spellbound; the critically-acclaimed motion picture, Akeelah and the Bee; and the Tony award-winning musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Television broadcast history:

• 1946: The national finals were broadcast live on NBC.
• 1974 and 1977: The national finals were broadcast on PBS a taped primetime special.
• 1994–2008: The national finals were broadcast live in daytime on ESPN.
• 2006–2008: The national finals were broadcast live on ABC.