14-year-old from New Orleans winner as first African American in spelling bee
Written by DZAT on July 13, 2021
14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde won the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Zaila is considered the first African American to win a 90-year-old spelling bee contest.
The finals resumed after it was canceled last year due to COVID-19.
The contest was held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando where it took home $ 50,000 as a prize.
Avant-garde from New Orleans was the first Black contestant to win since Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica won in 1988.
The word “Nepeta” a type of plant genus won him over where it was stopped slightly because it was poorly pronounced and when repeated he got the correct spelling of the said word so the judges declared him the winner.
12-year-old Chaitra Thummala from San Francisco came second in the contest after failing to spell the word “neroli oil”.
Avant-garde was also recognized by the Guinness World Record for “Most Baskeballs Dribbled Simultaneouslyâ€Â.
https://www.bomboradyo.com/14-anyos-mula-new-orleans-nagwagi-bilang-kauna-unahang-african-american-sa-spelling-bee/
