News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

1st African American To Win The Spelling Bee Also Holds 3 Basketball World Records

Zaila Avant-garde, 14, from Harvey, La., celebrates winning the finals of the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee at Disney World on Thursday.
John Raoux
/
AP
Zaila Avant-garde, 14, from Harvey, La., celebrates winning the finals of the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee at Disney World on Thursday.

Fourteen-year-old Zaila Avant-garde has won the Scripps National Spelling Bee — and $50,000.

She crushed the competition with the winning word, "murraya,"a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees and celebrated with a twirl onstage under the confetti. But not before she got the judges to crack smiles by sneaking in a Bill Murray joke. (We won't explain the joke for you — watch the champ execute it herself)

The 8th-grader from Harvey, La., is the first African American winner in the Bee's 96-year history, and the competition's second Black champion.

The triumph marks the return of the annual competition, which did not happen last year because of the pandemic. Avant-garde competed in the 2019 Bee, but didn't make it to the finals.

National spelling champ isn't the only title to her name. Avant-garde holds three Guinness World Recordsfor her basketball talents: the most bounce juggles in 1 minute with four basketballs, the most basketball bounces in 30 seconds with four basketballs, and ties the record for most basketballs dribbled at once — 6 — by one person.

Avant-garde was among 11 finalists who emerged from a group of 209 contestants, ranging in age from 9-15. The competition began virtually in June with preliminaries, followed by quarterfinals and semifinals. The final round Thursday night was held in-person at Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.

First lady Jill Biden, an educator herself, was there to witness the drama.

Competition this year was fierce, with new rules to raise the bar. Each level had an additional "word meaning" round to test vocabulary. The threat of a "spell-off" loomed over the finalists. Past years ended in ties — a record eight spellers won in 2019 — but this year, a new rule said that spellers who remain at the end of the allotted time have 90 seconds to spell as many words as they can from a predetermined spell-off list of words.

But there was no need for a tie-breaker, to the chagrin of some rapt spectators: Avant-garde handily outspelled the competition.

No matter their final standing, these kids do not disappoint with their smarts, grit and, of course, facial expressions. Here's a look at the highlights:

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Chaitra Thummala, 12, from Frisco, Texas, finished in second place at this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee.
John Raoux / AP
Chaitra Thummala, 12, from Frisco, Texas, finished in second place at this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Ashrita Gandhari, 14, from Ashburn, Va.
John Raoux / AP
Ashrita Gandhari, 14, from Ashburn, Va.
Dhroov Bharatia, 12, from Plano, Texas, reacts after correctly spelling a word during the finals.
John Raoux / AP
Dhroov Bharatia, 12, from Plano, Texas, reacts after correctly spelling a word during the finals.
Roy Seligman, 12, from Nassau, The Bahamas, reaches the finals.
John Raoux / AP
Roy Seligman, 12, from Nassau, The Bahamas, reaches the finals.
Avani Joshi, 13, from Roscoe, Ill., competes during the finals.
John Raoux / AP
Avani Joshi, 13, from Roscoe, Ill., competes during the finals.

Dana Farrington is a digital editor coordinating online coverage on the Washington Desk — from daily stories to visual feature projects to the weekly newsletter. She has been with the NPR Politics team since President Trump's inauguration. Before that, she was among NPR's first engagement editors, managing the homepage for NPR.org and the main social accounts. Dana has also worked as a weekend web producer and editor, and has written on a wide range of topics for NPR, including tech and women's health.