23rd Scripps National Spelling Bee

The 23rd Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia on May 26, 1950, sponsored by the E.W. Scripps Company.

The co-winners were 12-year old Diana Reynard of East Cleveland, Ohio and 14-year old Colquitt Dean of College Park, Georgia. This was the first time in National Spelling Bee history that the word list was exhausted and co-champions had to be declared. The final word was meticulosity. Each received the first place prize of $500 and a trip to New York. Third place went to Jim Bernhard of Houston, Texas, who missed "haruspex," and received $300.^[2][3]

The field of spellers was reduced to Reynard and Dean after 29 rounds, and they both correctly spelled a number of following words. Dean was almost excluded on "ferule" until the judges determined it was a proper spelling. The two continued until the Bee's third and final supplementary word list had been used up.^[4] Dean politely refused requests to embrace Reynard for photographers, fearing the reaction it might cause back home to be seen hugging a girl.^[5]

There were 50 spellers this year - 31 girls and 19 boys. Audrey Mathews was the first one eliminated for the spelling "supercede," but was reinstated after the judges found that it was listed in Webster's dictionary as a variant spelling for the normal "supersede".^[1]

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