14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde wins the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee
Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, was crowned the winner of the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. Avant-garde, who is the first African-American winner of the bee, ended the competition with the word “murraya.”
Avant-garde said she felt “really good” after her victory. “Now I get a nice trophy, which is the best part of any win,” she said on stage.
In the final rounds of the competition, Avant-garde faced off against 12-year-old Chaitra Thummala. After the girls spelled two words correctly each — fidibus, haltere, nepeta and fewtrils — Thummala faltered on neroli oil, leaving Avant-garde the opportunity to claim the title