The 2009 final
The bee was decided in Washington on 28 May 2009. Kavya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas, won it on 'Laodicean', an adjective for the lukewarm or indifferent. Tim Ruiter finished runner-up after missing 'Maecenas' - the name of the Roman patron of Virgil and Horace, used as a common noun for any cultural benefactor.
The field that year was the largest the bee had drawn to that point, at 293 spellers. Jill Biden, then the wife of the vice-president, opened the championship rounds with a line the wire report kept: 'I know that confidence is the most important thing you can give a child.'
The youngest speller on the stage
The detail the Associated Press singled out was his age. Ruiter was the only non-teenager among the finalists, which is the statistic that most clearly measures what he did. The bee admits spellers up to the eighth grade, and the closing rounds are normally populated by thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds in their last year of eligibility, competing against words they have had an extra year or two to meet.
A twelve-year-old reaching second place in that company is unusual, and it also means the eligibility clock had not run out. The research record behind this page notes that he returned to the national bee in 2010 and went out in the fourth round on 'fustanella', the pleated skirt worn in parts of the Balkans. That later appearance comes from the research record rather than the two cited 2009 dispatches.
What second place at the bee means
The Scripps National Spelling Bee has no scoring margin. Regional champions are eliminated one misspelling at a time, and a speller who has been flawless all week is level with everyone else still standing. Second place therefore records a single word: the one word, out of every word in the language, that came up at the wrong moment.
For Ruiter that word was 'Maecenas', a proper name turned common noun, with a capital letter and a Latin ending. It is precisely the kind of word the bee reserves for the last two spellers, because it cannot be reasoned out from English spelling rules at all.
The 2009 field
Two hundred and ninety-three spellers was a record at the time. It has since been dwarfed: the 2018 bee admitted 515 after Scripps introduced a wild-card entry route. But in 2009 the field was assembled entirely from regional winners, which means every one of those 293 children had already beaten a field of their own.
Coming second in that structure, two school years younger than most of the competitors around him, is the achievement the record supports. It does not support anything more than that, and this page does not claim more.
What is documented and what is not
Documented by the 2009 Associated Press reports: his age of 12, his home town of Centreville, Virginia, his runner-up finish, that he was the only non-teenager in the finals, the word he missed, the champion and winning word, and the record field of 293.
Not documented in those dispatches: his date of birth, his school, his family, and anything about his life after the bee. His 2010 return and elimination on 'fustanella' come from the research record behind this page. No IQ figure appears in any source used here.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sophia Hoffman | United States | The 2014 Jackson County marathon spelling bee | Age 9 |
| Akshay Buddiga | United States | Fainting and recovering at the 2004 National Spelling Bee | Age 11 |
| Tim Ruiter | United States | Runner-up at the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee | Age 12 |
| Kush Sharma | United States | Winning the 2014 Jackson County marathon spelling bee | Age 13 |
| Finola Hackett | Canada | Runner-up at the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee | Age 14 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Runner-up at the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee, aged 12 (AP, 28 May 2009)
- The only non-teenager in the 2009 finals
- Eliminated on 'Maecenas'; Kavya Shivashankar won on 'Laodicean'
- From Centreville, Virginia; the field was a record 293 spellers
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- His 2010 return and elimination on 'fustanella' come from the research record, not the cited dispatches
- No date of birth, school or family detail appears in these sources
- Nothing here documents his life after 2010
Questions people ask about Tim Ruiter
How old is Tim Ruiter?
He was reported as 12 at the 2009 national bee, which places his birth year around 1997. No date of birth appears in these sources.
What is Tim Ruiter known for?
Finishing runner-up at the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee as the only non-teenager in the finals.
Which word did Tim Ruiter miss?
'Maecenas', meaning a generous patron of the arts, from the name of the Roman patron of Virgil and Horace.
Who won the 2009 spelling bee?
Kavya Shivashankar, 13, of Olathe, Kansas, on the word 'Laodicean'.
Did Tim Ruiter compete again?
The research record behind this page says he returned in 2010 and was eliminated in round four on 'fustanella'. The two 2009 dispatches cited here do not cover that.
How many spellers competed in 2009?
A record 293, all of them regional winners.
Where is Tim Ruiter now?
Nothing in these sources documents his life after the bee, and this page does not invent an update.
Is Tim Ruiter on Wikipedia?
No standalone English Wikipedia article for him is recorded here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Tim’s story?
What made Tim Ruiter unusual among the 2009 finalists?
Which word ended his run?
How large was the 2009 field?
Sources
- 13-year-old Kansan wins National Spelling Bee — NBC News (AP), 2009-05-28
- 41 spellers make semifinals of national bee — NBC News (AP), 2009-05-27
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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