BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Five Louisiana students are competing in the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The national spelling bee started in 1925 to promote literacy for students. The competition will feature 247 spellers from across the country.
Five students from the Bayou State will be featured in this year’s competition:
- Naqeeb Hossain, 13 years old
- Glasgow Middle School in Baton Rouge
- Nayan Janumpally, 11 years old
- Edgar A. Martin Middle School in Lafayette
- Paranika Ethakota, 11 years old
- T.S. Cooley Elementary Magnet School in Lake Charles
- Langston Jones, 13 years old
- Ecole Bilingue de la Nouvelle-Orléans in New Orleans
- Sanil Thorat, 10 years old
- Fairfield Magnet Elementary School in Shreveport
Hossain appeared in the 2025 Scripps Spelling Bee and tied for 184th place. Both Ethakota and Thorat competed in the 2024 spelling bee and tied for 60th place…