Akash Vukoti

Akash Vukoti (born May 29, 2009) is an American child prodigy, TV personality, and motivational speaker from San Angelo, Texas. He competed for a record 6 times at the Scripps National Spelling Bee^[2] and was the first-ever first grader to compete in the bee. His first television appearance was in the NBC TV show Little Big Shots with Steve Harvey in March 2016.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Akash Vukoti
Born	(2009-05-29) May 29, 2009 (age 16) Rockville, Maryland, U.S.
Years active	2012–present
YouTube information
Channel	Akash Vukoti
Genres	Educational Inspirational
Subscribers	1 million[1]
Views	185.5 million[1]
Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers 2019 1,000,000 subscribers 2024
Last updated: 30 October 2024
Website	akashvukoti.com

Academic achievements

Akash competing at the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee

Vukoti competed in his first spelling bee when he was 2 years old.^[8] He was inducted into American Mensa at the age of 3 and became a Davidson Young Scholar^[9] at the age of 5.^[10] He became the first-ever first grader to compete in the history of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the age of 6 years, in 2016.^{[11][12][13][14]} He later competed in the 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bees. This made Vukoti the only person to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee for a record 6 times.^{[15][16][17][18][2][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]}

Television shows & media coverage

Vukoti was featured on several TV shows, such as Little Big Shots in Season 1 (2016), Season 2 (2017) and Little Big Shots UK (Episode 4) in 2017.^{[26][27][28][29]} He was also featured on the Steve Harvey talk show,^[30][31] Jimmy Kimmel Live!,^[32][33][34] and The Preachers^[35] in 2016. He appeared as a guest on the Harry show in 2017.^[36] Akash was also featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show on November 10, 2020.^[37]

On September 25, 2018, Vukoti was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on Dancing with the Stars: Juniors,^[38][39] a spin-off of Dancing with the Stars.

Documentaries and films

Vukoti has been featured in HBO and BBC documentaries. Episode 231 of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel titled “Brain Games and Mental Athletes” featured Vukoti and aired on June 21, 2016, on HBO.^[40] The BBC documentary The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed showcased Vukoti's talent in the episode "Learn" and aired on October 9, 2017, on BBC Two.^[41]

He was featured in the award-winning documentary film Spelling the Dream.^[42][43][44]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Distributor	Country	Release Date	Ref.
2017	The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed	BBC	UK	October 9	[41]
2020	Spelling the Dream	Netflix	Worldwide	June 3	[45][43]

Television

Year	Title	Channel	Country	Notes	Ref.
2016	Little Big Shots	NBC	USA	Season 1, Episode 1; Aired March 8 Season 1, Episode 9; Top 10 Moments; Aired May 8	[26][46]
2016	Steve Harvey	Syndication	USA	Aired March 11	[30]
2016	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	ABC	USA	Aired June 2	[32][33][34]
2016	Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel	HBO	USA	Brain Games; Aired June 21	[40]
2016	The Preachers	Syndication	USA	Aired July 11	[35]
2017	Little Big Shots UK	ITV	UK	Aired March 29	[29]
2017	Little Big Shots	NBC	USA	Season 2, Episode 7; Aired April 23	[28]
2017	Harry	Syndication	USA	Aired April 27	[36]
2018	Dancing with the Stars: Juniors	ABC	USA	Eliminated 7th in the 6th week; Aired October 7 to November 18	[38][39][47]
2020	Akashamanta	TV9 Telugu	India	Television special; Aired January 13	[48]
2020	The Kelly Clarkson Show	Syndication	USA	Season 2; Aired November 10	[37]

Awards

Vukoti receiving the Global Child Prodigy Award from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Kailash Sathyarthi

Year	Association	Award	Category	Place	Ref.
2017	Telugu Association of North America	Special Recognition Award	Spelling & Language	St. Louis	[49]
2017	North America Telugu Society[50]	Honorary Title Dhaarana Vaamana	Special Honor	Chicago	[51]
2020	Global Child Prodigy Awards[52]	Global Child Prodigy Award 2020	Language	New Delhi	[53][54]

Personal life

Akash Vukoti is the son of Chandrakala Jandyam and Dr. Krishna M Vukoti, who immigrated to the United States from Andhra Pradesh, India. Akash has an elder sister Amrita, who is also a Davidson Young Scholar and a member of Mensa.^[55] Both Amrita and Akash Vukoti competed in the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee.^[56][57]

Philanthropy

Vukoti has donated to various non-profit organizations like Children's Miracle Network in San Angelo, Wikipedia, Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, Telangana CM Relief Fund, Water.org and Kerala Floods Relief Fund. He has also donated to Bharat Ke Veer,^[58] an Indian government initiative supporting the families of deceased Central Armed Police Forces and Assam Rifles personnel. Vukoti has also donated to non-profit organizations the American Red Cross Society and the Government of India's PM CARES Fund to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.^[59]