Spellers:
288
This is the greatest number of spellers in the history of the event.

Gender:
135 boys (46.9%) and 153 girls (53.1%)
Of last year’s 286 spellers, there were 139 boys (48.6%) and 147 girls (51.4%).

Age:
2 eight-year-olds (0.7%)
13 ten-year-olds (4.5%)
30 eleven-year-olds (10.4%)
54 twelve-year-olds (18.8%)
98 thirteen-year-olds (34%)
89 fourteen-year-olds (30.9%)
2 fifteen-year-olds (0.7%)
In general, this year’s age statistics are typical of previous years’ age statistics.

Grade:
1 second grader
5 fourth graders
19 fifth graders
41 sixth graders
58 seventh graders
164 eighth graders
In general, this year’s grade statistics are typical of previous years’ grade statistics.

School Type:
190 public (65.97%)
37 private (12.85%)
36 home (12.5%)
18 parochial (6.25%)
7 charter (2.43%)
Of last year’s 286 spellers, 192 were public-schooled, 38 were private-schooled, 36 were home-schooled, 14 were parochial-schooled, five were charter-schooled, and one was virtual-schooled.

Siblings:
Thirty-seven (37) spellers are only children. The remaining 251 spellers have 262 sisters and 255 brothers among them. Spellers 48 and 49 are brothers.
This year’s siblings statistics are typical of previous years’ siblings statistics.

Family Ties:
Twenty-six (26) spellers have at least one relative (father, brother, sister, aunt or cousin) who has competed in previous national finals. They are spellers 7, 41, 49, 62, 65, 67, 93, 97, 110, 111, 115, 124, 134, 148, 149, 155, 169, 173, 198, 203, 209, 213, 242, 258, 278 and 286.
This year’s family ties statistics are typical of previous years’ family ties statistics.

Coaching Statistics:
Spellers with only family and/or friends as coaches: 230
Spellers with teachers as coaches: 38
Spellers who study alone: 7
Spellers not responding: 13

Of the 38 spellers who named teachers as coaches, 32 also indicated that they received coaching assistance from within the family unit. Only six spellers indicated that a teacher was their sole source of coaching.

Among the 57 spellers returning to the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the second, third, fourth, or fifth time, only five spellers cited teachers as coaches.

Five 2007 Championship Finalists are among this year’s spellers: Spellers 13, 26, 39, 107 and 162. These spellers cite coaching solely from parents, siblings and friends.

Five-Year Repeaters (2):
Speller 13, Tia Natasha-Elizabeth Thomas
Speller 162, Matthew C. Evans

Four-Year Repeaters (4):
Speller 39, Anqi Dong
Speller 90, Austin W. Hoke
Speller 97, Sameer Mishra
Speller 126, Akshat Shekhar

Three-Year Repeaters (11):
Speller 17, Josephine Kao
Speller 19, Justin Song
Speller 52, Matt Gabriele
Speller 93, Vaibhav Vavilala
Speller 107, Kavya Shivashankar
Speller 210, Michael James Girbino
Speller 236, Keiko S. Bridwell
Speller 242, Cherry N. Mathis
Speller 253, Raymond Avery Soriano
Speller 258, Katherine Michelle Kappelmann
Speller 274, Sachith Gullapalli

Two-Year Repeaters (40):
Speller 3, Kendra L. Frey
Speller 6, Natasha L. Begay
Speller 7, Samia Fahim Nawaz
Speller 26, Cody Aoan Wang
Speller 27, Jonathan Schut
Speller 31, Curtis C. Bogetti
Speller 48, Jake Smith
Speller 60 Deanna Leslie Hambleton
Speller 63, Aldrin Paul D’silva
Speller 64, Austin Brinkley
Speller 72, Rachel C. Pinkerton
Speller 73, Anna Beatrice Garcia Grimaldo
Speller 84, Kyle M. Mou
Speller 87, Katelyn R. Voss
Speller 88, Rose Sloan
Speller 101, Keertan R. Kini
Speller 103, Kennyi Aouad
Speller 129, Audrey L. Hale
Speller 133, Brianna R. Wise
Speller 140, Catherine “Cat” Cojocaru
Speller 155, Avvinash Radakrishnan
Speller 166, Neetu Chandak
Speller 178, Jacob Anthony Meggesto
Speller 179, Siraj A. Sindhu
Speller 181, Matthew Marley
Speller 186, Andrew Lay
Speller 189, Mayee Zhu
Speller 197, Scott B. Remer
Speller 204, Lacey Ware
Speller 209, Joshua A. McFall
Speller 214, Katie Nye
Speller 223, Mark Douglas Travor
Speller 246, Anjali Raghuram
Speller 249, Mouctika L. Paluri
Speller 270, Rebecca Madison Willett
Speller 277, Hunter Lehmann
Speller 279, Elizabeth Zhang
Speller 280, Christian S. Menendez
Speller 284, Jimmy Yuan
Speller 285, Karen Laska

Making History:
Sriram Hathwar, Speller 165, is the youngest contestant in the history of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. He celebrated his eighth birthday in April and is in second grade.