For the second year in a row, two contestants share the top spot in the National Spelling Bee — Gokul Venkatachalam, of St. Louis, Mo., and Vanya Shivashankar, of Olathe, Kan. Watch their winning moments here.

Vanya's final word was "scherenschnitte." It comes from the German for “scissor cuts.”

Gokul, who came in third last year, spelled "nunatak" for the tie. Click here for its meaning.

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Until last year, 52 years had passed with just a single winner in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

In another first, Vanya is the sister of a former winner. Her sister, Kavya, won in 2009.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Healthcare at College Park, a nursing home in Fulton County, GA, stands shuttered with its door chained on July 26, 2025, having closed in recent months.  Researchers at Brown University developed a list of U.S. nursing homes they predicted were at risk of closing based on 2023 data, and would be at elevated risk of closing due to the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act's cuts to Medicaid. Healthcare at College Park was on their list.  It survived past its last federal inspection in August of 2024 but has now closed down. The bill's biggest provisions will roll out over years starting Jan. 1. (Ariel Hart/AJC)

Credit: Ariel Hart