Confetti falls as Ansun Sujoe, 13, and Sriram Hathwar, 14, become co-champions of the Spelling Bee.(Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY)
The nation's top young spellers squared off in National Harbor, Md. for the coveted Scripps National Spelling Bee championship. USA TODAY Network looks at some of the memorable moments from tonight's final round and breaks down the Bee by the numbers.
Memorable moments
1. Co-champions: 7th grader Ansun Sujoe, 13, and 8th grader Sriram Hathwar, 14, both won the competition. The two went back and forth for several rounds and in the end neither blinked. The competition ended after Ansun correctly spelled "feuilleton" and the word list was exhausted. They were declared co-champions.
"I think we both know the competition is against the dictionary not against each other. I'm happy to share this trophy with him," Sriram said on ESPN after the event.
There have only been three other co-champions in the history of the National Spelling Bee:
1950 - Diana Reynard and Colquitt Dean
1957 - Sandra Owen and Dana Bennett
1962 - Nettie Crawford and Michael Day
MORE: Our favorite funny faces from the National Spelling Bee
2. Jacob Williamson: Jacob, 15, won over the crowd with his enthusiasm. He celebrated every word he got correctly with excited shouts until Round 10 when pronouncer Dr. Jacques Bailly gave him the word "kabaragoya."
Jacob shouted: "I know it. I know it. I totally know it!" But then he spelled it incorrectly as "cabaragoya." When Bailly corrected him, Jacob said, "What?!" and walked off the stage.
Jacob Williamson, 15, of Cape Coral, Fla., turns to leave the stage after misspelling kabaragoya in the finals of the Spelling Bee.(Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY)
3. Pronouncer flubs sentence: Sriram asked Bailly to use the word "feijoada" in a sentence during the final showdown between the two eventual winners. Bailly read out a lyric to the song 'Milkshake' by Kelis.
"Tabitha discovered that while her milkshakes brought all the boys to the yard," he said before being interrupted by a woman who told him to stop.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was reading the wrong sentence," he said, followed by laughter from the crowd.
4. First incorrect spelling: Samuel Pereles, 13, misspelled "ecribellate" in Round 7 becoming the first finalist knocked out of the field.
Samuel Pereles misspelled ecribellate in the finals of the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee.(Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY)
5. Creative ways to spell out words: When trying to think of how to spell difficult words, some spellers would pretend to write the word out. For example, Kate Miller, 14, pretended to type words on an imaginary keyboard.
Kate Miller, 14, correctly spells osteochondrous in the finals of the Spelling Bee.(Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY)
Here's a look at the Bee by the numbers:
Number of finalists: 12
Female: 4
Male: 8
Oldest finalist: 15
Youngest finalist: 11
5th year Bee participant: 1, Siriam Hathwar
3rd year Bee participants: 2, Gokul Venkatachalam and Kate Miller
2nd year Bee participants: 2, Neha Konakalla and Alia Abiad
1st year Bee participants: 7
Attend private school: 4
Attend public school: 5
Home schooled: 3
Shortest misspelled word: 5 letters, "irbis" (snow leopard)
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