Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from Harvey, Louisiana, has taken out the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee, becoming the first African American winner in the tournament's 96-year history. Avant-garde correctly spelled “murraya”, a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees, to take out the title ahead of Chaitra Thummala, a 12-year-old from Frisco, Texas.
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Scripps National Spelling Bee 2021: Zaila Avant-garde becomes first African American winner
Avant-garde, a basketball prodigy, also holds three Guinness world records for ball dribbling
Whether dribbling a basketball or identifying obscure Latin or Greek roots, Zaila Avant-garde doesn’t show much stress.
The 14-year-old from Harvey, Louisiana, breezed to the championship at the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night, becoming the first African American winner and only the second Black champion in the bee’s 96-year history.
Zaila has described spelling as a side hobby, although she routinely practised for seven hours a day. She is a basketball prodigy who hopes to play some day in the WNBA and holds three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple balls simultaneously.
Related: ‘N-O-R-M-A-L-C-Y’: Why the National Spelling Bee means more now than ever
Continue reading...National Spelling Bee adds vocabulary and lightning-round tiebreaker for 2021
- National bee has ended in tie in four of past six competitions
- Controversial rule changes meant to identify single champion
- Last year’s bee canceled for first time since second world war
- Quiz: Can you beat former National Spelling Bee champions?
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is undergoing a major overhaul to ensure it can identify a single champion, adding vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker to this year’s pandemic-altered competition.
The 96-year-old bee has in the past included vocabulary on written tests but never in the high-stakes oral competition rounds, where one mistake eliminates a speller. The only previous tiebreaker to determine a single champion was a short-lived extra written test that never turned out to be needed.
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