A 5th grade student from Challenge Center Elementary School in Sioux Falls competes this week in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington.
Oscar Quezada won the 2026 South Dakota State Spelling Bee on Feb. 7 in the 19th round after correctly spelling "arrearage."
For the second year, South Dakota News Watch and Dakota Wesleyan University sponsored the state competition, which was held at DWU. Financial support for Black Hills area students also came from the Independent Insurance Agents of Rapid City.
Pleroma Otang, 11, a 6th grader from Brandon Valley Intermedia School, took second place at the state bee and Ashika Gupta, 13, an 8th grader from Dakota Valley Upper Elementary Middle School placed 3rd.
Oscar is among 247 elementary and middle school students from around the country who qualified to gather in Washington for the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Carson Walker
Here's the broadcast/livestream schedule of onstage competition (all times Eastern and end times approximate):
- The preliminaries will be streamed on Scripps Sports Network from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26.
- The quarterfinals will be streamed on Scripps Sports Network from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27.
- The semifinals (live-to-tape) broadcast will air 8-10 p.m. on ION on Wednesday, May 28. (The live semifinals will be streamed on Scripps Sports Network from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. earlier that day.)
- The finals will air live in primetime on ION from 8-10 p.m. on Thursday, May 29.
Visit spellingbee.com/watch and enter your ZIP code for instructions on how to watch the Bee in a specific area.
Do you value education? Please consider partnering with us by helping to cover the sponsorship costs at the link below to ensure the state competition continues.
South Dakota News Watch is an independent nonprofit. Read, donate and subscribe for free at sdnewswatch.org. Contact CEO Carson Walker: 605-610-9366/carson.walker@sdnewswatch.org.
