When students from the Dallas area took the stage for a regional spelling bee this spring, the competition was so intense that officials ran out of words, had to resort to a written test and, in the end, decided to send three top spellers to nationals.

That was just a preview of what was to come at the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday. In a dramatic ending on live television, the prestigious competition announced that it had begun to exhaust its most challenging words and, shortly after midnight, crowned the eight remaining contestants co-champions — including the three from the Dallas area.

[The National Spelling Bee, at a loss for words, honored eight champions.]

The stunning twist was the first time the national bee, which in the past has experienced two-way ties, had seen such a logjam of competition. And it was the latest spelling victory for the Dallas region, which has emerged as something of a juggernaut in spelling in recent years. Last year, the top three finishers were all from Dallas suburbs. (The other winners this year were from Alabama, California, Maryland and New Jersey.)

The unusually high representation from one area was made possible, in part, by a new invitational program that allows more students from around the country to compete in the Scripps bee. And while some regions sponsor just one student for the national competition, the local sponsors in Dallas have begun to send more than one because of the many high-quality candidates in the region.