13 from Virginia in 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee

• PHOTOS (Clockwise from upper left): 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee contestants from Virginia include Eric Kim, 10 of Annandale; Kyra Holland, 14 of The Plains; Rishubh Kaushal, 13, of Sterling; Simran Patibanda, 12, of Triangle. Photos courtesy of Scripps National Spelling Bee

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The spellers are among the best of the best, ranking among the top 0.000026 percent of the more than 11 million students who participated in local events.

They come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. Eleven spellers represent the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.

There are 13 spellers from Virginia; they are:

• Riley E. Hamp (Speller No. 250) 12, a seventh grader at Kate Collins Middle School, Waynesboro
• Luke F. Garcia (Speller No. 251) 12, an eighth-grader at Sacred Heart School, Danville
• Kyra M. Holland (Speller No. 252) 14, an eighth-grader at Marshall Middle School, The Plains
• Declan W. Leach (Speller No. 253) 14, an eighth-grader at Redeemer Classical School, Keezletown
• Rishubh Kaushal (Speller No. 254) 13, a seventh-grader at Seneca Ridge Middle School, Sterling
• Chloe Michelle Epps (Speller No. 255) 13, a seventh-grader at Appomattox Middle School, Appomattox
• Simran Patibanda (Speller No. 256)12, a sixth-grader at Graham Park Middle School, Triangle
• Eric Kim (Speller No. 257) 10, a fourth-grader at Wakefield Forest Elementary School, Fairfax
• Eliza Willett (Speller No. 258) 14, an eighth-grader at Kingdom Education for Young Scholars, Virginia Beach
• Tejas Muthusamy (Speller No. 259) 13, a seventh-grader at George H. Moody Middle School, Richmond
• Asa Victor Stevens (Speller No. 260) 12, a sixth-grader at Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Rocky Mount
• Robert L. Bundy (Speller No. 261) 13, a seventh-grader at Lebanon Middle School, Lebanon
• Edwin Estep (Speller No. 262) 14, an eighth-grader at Northern Shenandoah Valley Homeschool Association, Berryville

Where, When to Watch on TV

ESPN and its channels will broadcast coverage of the Bee for the 23rd consecutive year with Bee hosts Kevin Negandhi, Paul Loeffler and Kaylee Hartung.

Spellers will be on the stage for the first time on Wednesday, May 25, after Tuesday’s preliminary round.

Here’s the schedule (all times Eastern Daylight Time, all broadcasts are live):

Wednesday

• 8-11:45 a.m.: Preliminaries (ESPN3)
• 1:15-4:45 p.m: Preliminaries, announcement of finalists (ESPN3)

Thursday

• 10 a.m. -2 p.m.: Finals (ESPN2)
• 8-10 p.m.: Finals (ESPN)

Social Media

Also, follow the behind-the-scenes action on social media. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a two-time winner of the Nielsen weekly Twitter TV ratings for the last week in May.

On the Web

More about the spelling bee, including profiles of each speller and round results and regular competition updates is found at spellingbee.com. The website also has an archive of past winners and their winning words, a sample test and other information.