"Dev Shah Takes Home 2023 Scripps Spelling Bee Crown with 'Psammophile'"

Dev Shah, an eighth-grader from Florida, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee and $50,000 after correctly spelling "psammophile," a plant or animal that prefers or thrives in sandy areas. He outlasted 228 other competitors, including 10 finalists, and studied 10 hours each day for the past year. The competition has become more difficult in the last two years, as its organizers have added new rules to challenge the spellers and to avoid a repeat of 2019, which ended with an eight-way tie after four hours that exhausted the bee’s list of challenging words.