Jairam Hathwar: The Second Brother to Win the Spelling Bee

Biography

Twenty-four rounds

The 2016 final was a war of attrition. Hathwar and Nihar Janga of Texas traded correct spellings through 24 championship rounds before Scripps declared them co-champions, the third consecutive year the competition had ended in a tie. NPR's headline captured the mood in the press room: another year, another impasse.

CNN reported two champions in the 2016 national bee; the Associated Press copy carried by ESPN named both boys; and the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester covered the local angle, a Painted Post seventh-grader becoming national co-champion. Hathwar's final word, 'Feldenkrais', is an eponym, taken from the name of the physicist who devised a method of movement training.

The second Hathwar

In 2014 his older brother Sriram had shared the national title with Ansun Sujoe. Two years later Jairam did the same with Nihar Janga. Two national championships in one family is exceptionally rare, and the Hathwars achieved it inside three years.

Both brothers were sponsored through the Corning Rotary Club in upstate New York, which underwrote their regional qualification. The household that had prepared one champion prepared a second, using the methods the first campaign had proved.

Three ties in three years

Before 2014 the bee had not produced co-champions for 52 years. It then produced them three years running. The mechanism was the same each time: two finalists who would not fail, and a championship word list with a finite number of entries.

The 2016 edition, at 24 rounds, was the longest of the three standoffs. Scripps later changed the format to reduce the likelihood of ties, which places all three of those shared titles inside a short, closed chapter of the competition's history.

What is documented since

None of the sources used here follows Jairam Hathwar past 2016. His high school, university, career and current whereabouts are not recorded in this material. He was 13 at the time of the win.

The family's collective record, two champions in three years, remains the most-cited fact about him, which is a slightly unfair way for an individual achievement to be remembered. The 24 rounds were his.

Why the word list decides it

The bee prepares a fixed set of championship words for the final stage, vetted in advance for difficulty and for fairness. When two finalists keep answering correctly, that list is consumed two words at a time, and the competition reaches a point where continuing would mean asking questions nobody had checked. The rules then require joint winners.

It is a deliberately unromantic piece of governance, and it produced three of the competition's most memorable evenings. The alternative, improvising a tiebreak from unvetted words, would have decided a national championship on luck. Scripps chose instead to let the children share it, and in 2016 it took 24 rounds of flawless spelling by two thirteen-year-olds to force that choice.

Achievement Timeline

Jairam Hathwar — every milestone on this page, placed by age.

2014

His older brother Sriram Hathwar shareHis older brother Sriram Hathwar shares the national title with Ansun Sujoe

26 May 2016

Reaches the final ten at the Scripps NReaches the final ten at the Scripps National Spelling Bee (NPR)

27 May 2016

Declared co-champion with Nihar Janga Declared co-champion with Nihar Janga after 24 championship rounds, spelling 'Feldenkrais' (CNN, ESPN/AP, Scripps)

2016

Covered locally by the Democrat and ChCovered locally by the Democrat and Chronicle as a Painted Post seventh-grader turned national champion

Watch: Jairam Hathwar on camera

Jairam Hathwar Co Champion 2016 Scripps National Spelling BeeWENY TV NEWS

Senator O'Mara's Remarks Congratulating 2016 Spelling Bee Co-Champ Jairam…NYSenate

Historical Comparison

Person	Country	Milestone	Age / Stat
Jairam Hathwar	United States	Co-champion of the 2016 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 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13, with 'Feldenkrais', after 24 championship rounds (CNN, ESPN/AP, Scripps)
Shared the title with Nihar Janga; it was the third consecutive year the bee ended in a tie
His brother Sriram Hathwar co-won the bee in 2014

? Unverified, disputed or wrong

No source documents his life after 2016
No IQ figure or school record beyond his grade is published
Round-by-round accounts of the 2016 final differ slightly between outlets

Questions people ask about Jairam Hathwar

What word did Jairam Hathwar win with?

'Feldenkrais', an eponym taken from the name of the physicist who devised a method of movement training, at the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Who shared the 2016 title with him?

Nihar Janga. The two were declared co-champions after 24 championship rounds.

Is he related to Sriram Hathwar?

Yes. Sriram is his older brother and shared the 2014 national title, making the Hathwars a two-champion family.

How old was Jairam Hathwar when he won?

Thirteen, and a seventh-grader from Painted Post, New York.

Why did the bee keep producing ties?

Three years running, two finalists kept spelling correctly until the championship word list ran out, which under the rules produces co-champions. Scripps later changed the format.