The Scripps National Spelling Bee ( formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and commonly called Name_conferral the National Spelling Bee ) is an annual spelling bee held Hold in the United States .

The bee is run Control on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Scripps Company and is held Hold at a hotel or convention center in Washington , D.C. during the week following Memorial Day weekend .

since 1994 , the unk channel espn has televised Communication the later rounds of the bee ; since 2006 , earlier rounds have aired Expressing_publicly on espn during the day , and the championship finals have aired Expressing_publicly in the evening on espn .