13 Jun

2023 K12 National Spelling Bee WINNERS Announced!

This year, students at the K12 National Spelling Bee came together in Washington, D.C. to battle it out to be the spelling champion, flawlessly spelling words such as “aegilops”, “insouciant”, “tsukupin”, and many, many more. This competition enabled thousands of eligible students in grades 3–12 nationwide to show their knowledge and compete at the school level, semi-regional level, regional level for the opportunity to qualify for the K12 National Spelling Bee.

We are excited to announce the 1st, 2nd and, 3rd place winners of our 2023 K12 National Spelling Bee Competition! The National 1st place winner in each grade band received a $2,500 Amazon e-gift card and a Microsoft Surface tablet! The National 2nd place winners received a $1,000 Amazon e-gift card and 3rd place winners received a $500 Amazon e-gift card.   

Did you miss this A-W-E-S-O-M-E event? Watch the full event now on the K12 Facebook page.

Let’s congratulate our finalists below:


Elementary (3rd – 5th Grade):

1st Place – Ilyannie Gonzalez, 5th Grade, Washington Virtual Academy

2nd Place – Adarsh Venkannagari, 4th Grade, Paul P. Gates Elementary School

3rd Place – Shilei Wu, 4th Grade, Lone Star Online Academy at Roscoe


Middle School (6th – 8th Grade):

1st Place – Nathaniel Hersey, 8th Grade, Virginia Virtual Academy

2nd Place – Brandon Huang, 6th Grade, Virginia Virtual Academy

3rd Place – Ananth Pakanati, 6th Grade, K12 Private Academy


High School (9th- 12th Grade):

1st Place – Marina Ly, 11th Grade, Blanson CTE High School

2nd Place – Angel Canete, 10th Grade, Cyber Academy of South Carolina

3rd Place – Ibrahim Bello, 11th Grade, California Virtual Academy