How do you spell T-I-E
The 2014 final produced a result the Scripps National Spelling Bee rarely allows. Sriram Hathwar, 13, of Painted Post in upstate New York, and Ansun Sujoe of Fort Worth, Texas, traded correct spellings until the competition ran out of words with which to separate them. CNN headlined its report with the obvious question: how do you spell T-I-E. NPR called the co-champions rare, and noted the online following the pair had picked up during the broadcast.
Hathwar's share of the title came on 'stichomythia', a term from Greek drama for dialogue delivered in alternating single lines. The word was, as it happened, a fair description of the finish.
Five trips, starting at eight
The 2014 title was his fifth appearance at the national finals. The first had come in 2008, when the Reading Eagle reported on the eight-year-old competing in the national bee, the youngest in that year's field. In 2013 he had finished third. The Leader of Corning, his local paper, marked the fifth qualification in March 2014, before anyone knew how the season would end.
Sponsorship for those trips came through the Corning Rotary Club, the kind of civic arrangement that quietly underwrites the bee's regional structure across the United States.
The line that defined the finish
Asked about sharing the prize, Hathwar gave the answer that has followed him since: the competition, he said, is against the dictionary, not against each other. It was a sentence that made sense of an outcome American sport is not built to accept.
The remark also captured what the bee actually tests. A speller is not trying to outscore an opponent but to meet a fixed standard set by a book, and two children meeting it at the same time is a coherent result rather than an anticlimax.
The Hathwar brothers
In 2016 his younger brother Jairam Hathwar also finished as a co-champion of the national bee, making the family one of very few to hold two titles. Sriram's early start, his third place in 2013 and Jairam's later run meant the surname appeared on the bee's results in some form across nearly a decade.
None of the sources used here follows Sriram into adulthood. His university, his work and his current whereabouts are not documented in this material, and are not guessed at.
Why ties happen at all
The bee's endgame depends on a finite championship word list. When the field narrows to two spellers who keep answering correctly, the competition eventually exhausts the words set aside for the final rounds, and the rules provide for declaring joint winners rather than inventing a tiebreak. That is why ties, when they come, arrive suddenly at the end of a long correct streak rather than through an error.
The 2014 result opened a short period in which shared titles became familiar; Jairam's 2016 co-championship was part of it. Scripps later tightened the format to make outright winners more likely. For the four minutes it lasted on live television, though, the 2014 ending did something the competition almost never does: it let two children win the same thing without either having to lose.
Watch: Sriram Hathwar on camera
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sriram Hathwar | United States | Co-champion of the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Arvind Mahankali | United States | Won the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Kerry Close | United States | Won the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Hugh Tosteson García | Puerto Rico (United States) | National Spelling Bee champion 1975 | Age 14 |
| Roy Seligman | Bahamas | First speller from the Bahamas to reach the Scripps National Spelling Bee… | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Co-champion of the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13, with 'stichomythia' (CNN, NBC News, NPR)
- Competed at the national bee at eight in 2008 as the youngest speller that year (Reading Eagle)
- Brother Jairam Hathwar co-won the bee in 2016
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No source here documents his university, career or current location
- No IQ figure or family detail beyond his brother's bee record
- Precise round-by-round details of the 2014 finish vary between reports
Questions people ask about Sriram Hathwar
What word did Sriram Hathwar win with?
'Stichomythia', a term from Greek drama, at the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee, which he won jointly with Ansun Sujoe.
How old was Sriram Hathwar when he won?
Thirteen. He was born in 2000 and shared the title in May 2014.
Why were there two winners in 2014?
The two remaining spellers kept answering correctly until the bee's championship word list was exhausted, and the rules provide for co-champions rather than a tiebreak.
When did he first compete nationally?
In 2008, at eight, when he was the youngest speller in the national field. The 2014 title came on his fifth trip to the finals.
Who is Jairam Hathwar?
His younger brother, who also co-won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, in 2016.
Where is Sriram Hathwar now?
None of the sources used here reports on his adult life, education or career.
Is Sriram Hathwar on Wikipedia?
He does not have a standalone Wikipedia article; his win appears within Wikipedia's spelling bee coverage.
What is Sriram Hathwar's IQ?
No IQ figure for him appears in any source used here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Sriram’s story?
How old was Sriram Hathwar at his first national spelling bee?
Who shared the 2014 title with him?
What did he say the competition was against?
Sources
- How do you spell T-I-E? National Spelling Bee has two winners — CNN, 2014-05-30
- T-I-E! Sriram Hathwar, Ansun Sujoe Share Scripps National Spelling Bee Title as Co-Champions — NBC Bay Area, 2014-05
- Spellers Share Big Prize as Co-Champions at National Spelling Bee — NBC News, 2014-05
- Hathwar wins fifth trip to Scripps National Spelling Bee — The Leader (Corning), 2014-03-06
- 8-year-old competing in national spelling bee — Reading Eagle, 2008-05-27
- National Spelling Bee: Rare Co-Champions, And A Star Online — NPR, 2014-05-30
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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