From the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland, a group of kids and teenagers converged for one of the largest academic competitions in the United States: the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year saw enthusiastic spellers and unexpected winners all while spelling words that most Americans did not know existed. In the end, Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe took home the grand prizes.

The National Spelling Bee is held every year after Memorial Day. This year, according to its site, there 281 spellers from every state in the Union as well as American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. There were also spellers from the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea. However, none of these kids stole the show like Jacob Williamson did.

The 15-year-old speller from Cape Coral, Florida, won everyone over because of his excited reactions throughout the event. Whenever he spelled something correctly and continued to move ahead, he rejoiced vividly on national television. According to USA Today's For the Win, Williamson's energetic reactions won many over and brought excitement to an otherwise dull event, which is why it was even sadder when he was disqualified for misspelling "kabaragoya."

However, this year did see a champion. In fact, it saw two. In an unprecedented turn of events, there was a tie, and two young men were named National Spelling Bee champions. According to The Associated Press, Hathwar, of Painted Post, New York, and Sujoe, of Fort Worth, Texas, tied in the final round.

Both spellers misspelled their words back to back, giving the other a reprieve; however, neither boy misspelled the next 27 words, some of the hardest in the championship, including the likes of skandhas, hyblaean, feijoada, augenphilologie, sdrucciola, holluschick, thyemelici, paixtle, encaenia and terreplein.

At the end, the AP reported, Ansun and Sriram were tied, and without any more words to spell, they were declared the winners.

"The competition was against the dictionary, not against each other," Sriram said. "I'm happy to share this trophy with him."

Though both boys shared one trophy at the end of the spelling bee, they will each take their own trophy home. They also will each receive $33,000 in cash and prizes. According to the AP, 1962 was the last time there was a tie.