Dallas Sports Commission to Host the 68th Annual Dallas Regional Spelling Bee

DALLAS – The 68th Annual Dallas Regional Spelling Bee (DRSB) presented by the Dallas Sports Commission will be held Saturday, March 7 at WFAA in downtown Dallas. An exciting first at the regional level, Dr. Jacques Bailly, the official Head Pronouncer of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, will preside over the DRSB as this year’s Pronouncer. A winner of the 1980 National Spelling Bee, Dr. Bailly is an associate professor of classics at the University of Vermont, specializing in Greek and Roman philosophy, etymology, and ancient languages.

Twenty-six contestants from 20 counties will compete in the Dallas Regional Spelling Bee. These contestants represent the best of approximately 100,000 students from over 815 schools who competed in school bees throughout North and East Texas.

To qualify for the Dallas Regional Spelling Bee, contestants must be in the eighth grade or below and win their individual school bee and local county bee. More information on the Dallas Regional Spelling Bee can be found at www.dallasspellingbee.com.

The Dallas Sports Commission will be advancing the top three spellers from the Dallas Regional Spelling Bee to the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the ninth consecutive year. All three champions and a guardian will receive all-expense paid trips to Washington D.C., with flights courtesy of Southwest airlines. These students will represent North and East Texas in the national competition, taking place May 24-29, 2026. Additional information on the National Bee is available from Scripps at www.spellingbee.com.

“The Dallas Sports Commission is proud to prioritize our community in many ways, and that includes our work through facilitating the Dallas Regional Spelling Bee,” said Monica Paul, Dallas Sports Commission Executive Director. “The Dallas Region is consistently recognized as one of the best in the country. We are thrilled to have so many national champions come from our bee program and can’t wait to see the future success of this year’s competitors.”

The DRSB will be streamed on Saturday, May 9, on WFAA+, which is available to download for free on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV Devices.

“WFAA is excited to once again serve as the official broadcast partner of the Dallas Regional Spelling Bee,” said Ryan Wood, WFAA’s Director of Community Impact. “We look forward to spotlighting the Bee’s celebration of language, learning, and literacy to audiences across North Texas through our streaming platform, WFAA+.”

This year’s bee sponsors include Leon Capital Group, Southwest Airlines, and WFAA.

About the Dallas Sports Commission: As a division of Visit Dallas, the Dallas Sports Commission (DSC) is passionately committed to generating economic impact and enriching the quality of life within our community through sports. The DSC attracts and hosts amateur, grassroots, collegiate, and professional championship events. Since 2014, the DSC has hosted over 614 events, welcomed more than 9.5 million attendees, and generated over $5.4 billion in economic impact.