Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from New Orleans, won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night, becoming the first African-American winner in the competition’s nearly 100-year history.
14-year-old Louisiana girl becomes first African-American to win national spelling bee
Vanguard sealed her victory by correctly spelling the word ‘Murraya,’ a type of plant, after having to restart on another botanical word ‘Nepeta’ in an earlier round.
The 14-year-old will receive a cash prize of $50,000.
Chaitra Thummala, a 12-year-old girl from San Francisco, came in second place after making a mistake spelling ‘Neroli Oil‘, but will still receive a cash prize of $25,000.
In addition to her Spelling Bee win, Avant-garde is also a skilled basketball player and holds three Guinness World Records, including one for most rebounding plays in one minute.
13-year-old Zaila Avant-garde of Louisiana is your 93rd Scripps National #SpellingBee champion ‼️
The first African-American winner of the competition 👏 pic.twitter.com/y2Y5dAGcVN
— ESPN (@espn) July 9, 2021
The National Spelling Bee has had only one other black winner: Jody-Anne Maxwell, who represented Jamaica in 1998.
The 2021 edition of the spelling bee was held in front of a live audience at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida.
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden was on hand for the finals and met with the finalists and their families before Thursday’s competition began.
Last year, organizers were forced to cancel the competition for the first time since World War II due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2019 Spelling Bee crown was shared by eight winners after organizers ran out of words that could challenge the contestants. For this year’s event, rule changes were implemented to avoid multiple co-winners.
