The winning word
The word Purim is Hebrew in origin and names the festival that commemorates the events of the Book of Esther. It does not follow the Latin and Greek patterns that carry a speller through most of an English dictionary, and Giddens told reporters he had never heard it before.
That is a peculiarly exposed position for a finalist. With no roots to work from and no memory of the word, a speller is reduced to the phonetics and to nerve. The Texas Jewish Post made the point its headline: spelling Purim correctly won the championship for a boy who had never heard it before.
Who he was
Giddens was 14 and from Alamogordo, New Mexico, a town in the Tularosa Basin better known for the missile range next to it than for its spellers. He had reached the national bee through an El Paso sponsorship, the arrangement the bee has always used in regions where the nearest sponsoring newspaper sits across a state line.
The family had been there before. His sister Nicole had competed at the national bee in 1980 and 1981, which makes the 1983 title the third appearance by a Giddens in four years and suggests a household in which the dictionary was already open.
The 1983 final
The runner-up that year was Eric Rauchway. A bee resolves by elimination: when one finalist misses, the other must spell that word and then one more to take the title, so the ending is almost always decided within a single exchange.
The competition had by 1983 been running for more than five decades, interrupted only by the Second World War, with regional champions sent to Washington by sponsoring newspapers. A national champion in that system is the last speller standing out of a field assembled from every corner of the country.
Why the story survived
Most winning words are forgotten within a year. Purim stuck because of the mismatch: a boy from a small New Mexico town, a Hebrew festival name, and no prior acquaintance between them. Both contemporary reports, the AP account in The New York Times and the Texas Jewish Post, built their coverage on exactly that.
It is also a clean demonstration of what the bee actually tests. Not vocabulary, and not familiarity, but the ability to construct a plausible spelling under pressure and commit to it in front of an audience.
What is documented, and what is not
Documented: the 1983 championship, the winning word Purim, his age of 14, Alamogordo and the El Paso sponsorship, his sister Nicole's appearances in 1980 and 1981, and the runner-up Eric Rauchway.
Not documented in the sources used here: his school, his parents, the prize money, and everything about his life since 1983. Coverage of bee champions of that era stops within days of the final, and this page does not fill the silence that follows.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blake Giddens | United States | National Spelling Bee champion 1983 | Age 11 |
| 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
- He won the 1983 National Spelling Bee on the word Purim at 14
- He was from Alamogordo, New Mexico, and competed through an El Paso sponsorship
- His sister Nicole competed at the national bee in 1980 and 1981, and the 1983 runner-up was Eric Rauchway
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- The prize money and the number of rounds
- His school and family beyond his sister
- Anything about his life after 1983
Questions people ask about Blake Giddens
What word did Blake Giddens win on?
Purim, the name of a Jewish festival, which he said he had never heard before.
How old was he?
He was 14 at the 1983 National Spelling Bee; his birth year is recorded as 1969.
Where was he from?
Alamogordo, New Mexico. He reached the national bee through an El Paso sponsorship.
Who finished second?
Eric Rauchway was the runner-up in 1983.
Did anyone else in his family compete?
Yes. His sister Nicole competed at the national bee in 1980 and 1981.
Where is Blake Giddens now?
No source used here reports anything about his life after 1983.
Is Blake Giddens on Wikipedia?
His name appears in listings of National Spelling Bee champions. No biography of him is among the sources used here.
How much prize money did he win?
The sources used here do not state the amount, and no figure is attributed to him on this page.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Blake’s story?
Which word won Blake Giddens the 1983 title?
What did he say about the word?
Which family member had competed at the bee before him?
Sources
- AROUND THE NATION; 'P-u-r-i-m' Spells Title For New Mexico Boy — The New York Times (AP), 1983-06-10
- Spelling 'Purim' Correctly Wins Championship For Boy Who Never Heard It Before — Texas Jewish Post, 1983-06-16
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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