What is the Scripps Cup? Intricately designed trophy recognizes nation's best speller

Contributor
David Suggs
What is the Scripps Cup? Intricately designed trophy recognizes nation's best speller image

The Scripps Cup — the trophy given to the winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee — is unlike any other trophy in the sporting world.

It's adorned in the finest porcelain one could find and is a physical embodiment of the curiosity and intrigue that comes with being an adolescent in this crazy world.

And it's just so pretty. Backdropped in cream-colored sweetness and accentuated by the beauty of the natural world, the Scripps National Spelling Bee trophy is one of one. It's just what the competition, which pits some of the nation's brightest young pupils against each other in a battle of spelling wits, deserves.

But the trophy wasn't always this way. In fact, it is a relatively new addition to the competition, having replaced the previous trophy in 2019.

MORE SPELLING BEE NEWS:

With that, here's what you need to know about the piece of hardware handed out to the winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

What is the Scripps Cup?

The winner of this year's spelling bee will hoist a pearly white pot, one that wouldn't look out of place in a botanist's dwelling. It's ornate as can be; spotlighted by a regal shade of cream. Liveliness ripples across its surface, first in the budding red, orange, blue and lavender gladiolus.

Below is a look at the trophy from its debut during the 2019 competition:

There's a whole lot to like about the piece. From its alluring honeycomb shape to the delicate dichotomy of ribboning grass and nomadic bumblebees, the Scripps Cup just has that it factor that separates it from some of sports' other iconic finery.

That hasn't always been the case. For the better part of 100 years, Scripps National Spelling Bee winners were gifted a dull, copper-plated trophy. It was lacking the sort of vigor and excitement these children deserved.

"Anyone could order that trophy," Corrie Loffler, the Scripps National Spelling Bee's editorial director, said of the former trophy.

So when it was finally put out to pasture in 2019, the competition's officials knew they had to come correct with their next choice.

Who makes the Scripps Cup?

The intricate details that litter the Scripps Cup surface require care and tenderness, something that can evade the industrialized nature of metalwork. So, Scripps contacted pottery company Rockwood to create a structure that comes to life.

"It recognizes what all these kids do," Loffler said, per Scripps' website.

Rockwood went to painstaking measures to craft a vase befitting a spelling bee champion. In addition to all the flora that lines the trophy's exterior, it also features an open book and the first winning word of the national Bee. It sits on a honey walnut base, one that pays homage to Scripps' headquarters in Cincinnati (which resides on Walnut Street).

"It was a no-brainer to go to them," Loeffler said.

It's a trophy made for a champion. It's a trophy shaped by history. And it's one that will be front and center at the end of the competition.

List of past Spelling Bee winners

This is a complete list of the kids who have taken home the trophy from the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the 93 years it's been running. The full list of words each competitor correctly spelled to become a champion can be found on The Sporting News' website.

YearWinnerState/Territory
1925Frank NeuhauserKentucky
1926Pauline BellKentucky
1927Dean LucasOhio
1928Betty RobinsonIndiana
1929Virginia HoganNebraska
1930Helen JensenIowa
1931Ward RandallIllinois
1932Dorothy GreenwalkIowa
1933Alma RoachOhio
1934Sarah WilsonMaine
1935Clara MohlerOhio
1936Jean TrowbridgeIowa
1937Waneeta BeckleyKentucky
1938Marian RichardsonKentucky
1939Elizabeth Ann RiceMassachusetts
1940Laurel KuykendallTennessee
1941Louis Edward SissmanMichigan
1942Richard EarnhartTexas
1946John McKinneyIowa
1947Mattie Lou PollardGeorgia
1948Jean ChappelearOhio
1949Kim CalvinOhio
1950Colquitt DeanGeorgia
1950Diana ReynardOhio
1951Irving BelzTennessee
1952Doris Ann HallNorth Carolina
1953Elizabeth HessArizona
1954William CashorePennsylvania
1955Sandra SlossMissouri
1956Melody SachkoPennsylvania
1957Sandra OwenOhio
1957Dana BennettColorado
1958Jolitta SchlehuberKansas
1959Joel MontgomeryColorado
1960Henry FeldmanTennessee
1961John CapeheartOklahoma
1962Nettie CrawfordTexas
1962Michael DayMissouri
1963Glen Van Slyke IIITennessee
1964William KerekOhio
1965Michael Kerpan Jr.Oklahoma
1966Robert A. WakeTexas
1967Jennifer ReinkeNebraska
1968Robert L. WaltersKansas
1969Susan YoachumTexas
1970Libby ChildressNorth Carolina
1971Jonathan KniselyPennsylvania
1972Robin KralTexas
1973Barrie TrinkleTexas
1974Julie Ann JunkinAlabama
1975Hugh Tosteson GarciaPuerto Rico
1976Tim KnealeNew York
1977John PaolaPennsylvania
1978Peg McCarthyKansas
1979Katie KerwinColorado
1980Jacques BaillyColorado
1981Paige PipkinTexas
1982Molly DieveneyColorado
1983Blake GiddensTexas
1984Daniel GreenblattVirginia
1985Balu NatarajanIllinois
1986Jon PenningtonPennsylvania
1987Stephanie PetitPennsylvania
1988Rageshree RamachandranCalifornia
1989Scott IsaacsColorado
1990Amy Marie DimakWashington
1991Joanna LagattaWisconsin
1992Amanda GoadVirginia
1993Geoff HooperTennessee
1994Ned G. AndrewsTennessee
1995Justin Tyler CarrollTennessee
1996Wendy GueyFlorida
1997Rebecca SealfonNew York
1998Jody-Anne MaxwellJamaica
1999Nupur LalaFlorida
2000George Abraham ThampyMissouri
2001Sean ConleyMinnesota
2002Pratyush BuddigaColorado
2003Sai GunturiTexas
2004David Scott Pilarski TidmarshIndiana
2005Anurag KashyapCalifornia
2006Katharine CloseNew Jersey
2007Evan M. O'DorneyCalifornia
2008Sameer MishraIndiana
2009Kavya ShivashankarKansas
2010Anamika VeeramaniOhio
2011Sukanya RoyPennsylvania
2012Snigdha NandipatiCalifornia
2013Arvind MahankaliNew York
2014Sriram HathwarNew York
2014Ansun SujoeTexas
2015Gokul VenkatachalamMissouri
2015Vanya ShivashankarKansas
2016Jairam HathwarNew York
2016Nihar JangaTexas
2017Ananya VinayCalifornia
2018Karthik NemmaniTexas
2019Rishik GandhasriCalifornia
2019Saketh SundarMaryland
2019Shruthika PadhyNew Jersey
2019Sohum SukhatankarTexas
2019Erin HowardAlabama
2019Abhijay KodaliTexas
2019Christopher SerraoPennsylvania
2019Rohan RajaTexas
2021Zaila Avant-gardeLouisiana
2022Harini LoganTexas
2023Dev ShahFlorida
2024Bruhat SomaFlorida