Finalists were invited to sit on stage and cheer on the top ten spellers competing this evening.

Jairam Hathwar of New York was crowned co-champion of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Nihar Janga, from Texas, is the youngest winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Congratulations to Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga, co-champions of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee!!!

This is the third year in a row that co-champions have been declared. Jairam is a thirteen year old seventh grader from New York and is the brother of Sriram Hathwar, the 2014 co-champion. Nihar Janga is an eleven year old fifth grader from Texas. Nihar made history tonight, becoming the youngest ever to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Jairam’s championship word was feldenkrais and Nihar’s championship word was gesellschaft. Feldenkrais, a trademark, is a system of aided body movements intended to increase body awareness and ease tension. Gesellschaft is a rationally developed mechanistic type of social relationship characterized by impersonally contracted associations between persons.