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California eighth-grader Shrey Parikh has become the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner, spelling 32 words in the 90-second spell-off. The Silicon Review reports on the record-breaking victory. A 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California has become the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner, defeating 247 other contestants in a dramatic lightning-round tiebreaker at Washington's Constitution Hall. Shrey Parikh, an eighth-grader at Day Creek Intermediate School, clinched the title by spelling 32 words correctly in the 90-second "spell-off" final, setting a new competition record. Runner-up Ishaan Gupta, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from New Jersey, spelled 25 words correctly. The winning word was "bromocriptine" a polypeptide alkaloid that is a derivative of ergot and mimics the activity of dopamine. Parikh advanced to the spell-off by correctly spelling "Philepitta," a genus of Madagascan birds, while Gupta matched him in the 18th round with "Ertebølle." The final round format, introduced in 2021 after the 2019 competition ended with eight co-champions, requires finalists to spell as many words as possible in 90 seconds from the same list....