Update: Georgia spellers advance to semifinals round of Scripps National Spelling Bee

Caption

Sarv Dharavane competes in first round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 26, 2026.

Credit: Screenshot from Scripps Sports

Both representatives from Georgia advanced to the semi-finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC on May 27.

Sarv Dharavane from Peachtree Middle School in Dunwoody, the state’s winner, correctly spelled “vivificate,” to animate or revive, and seventh grader Sreeya Lakkimsetti, from Stallings Middle School in Columbia County, correctly spelled “jurimetrician,” the application of quantitative methods, probability, and statistics to the study of law.

In the first two rounds, Dharavane correctly spelled “heiau,” which is a Hawaiian sacred place, then defined “veracity” as “the quality of conforming to facts, truthfulness, or habitual honesty.”

In the preliminary rounds, Lakkimsetti, 13, correctly spelled “nahcolite,” a naturally occurring mineral form of sodium bicarbonate, and defined “gawker” as a person staring stupidly.

Dharavane, after more than 350 words and 23 rounds (including vocabulary), on March 20 won the 65th Annual Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) State Spelling Bee for the third consecutive year, with Lakkimsetti as the runner-up.

He finished third overall in last year’s national contest.

About 247 spellers have descended from all over the world to compete in the 101st bee. In the spelling round on May 26, which was not televised, 97 contestants advanced, with 72 eliminated.

The competition continues on May 27, with the semifinals starting at 8 p.m.