Black Teen Runs Hoops Around Spelling Bee Competitors
11 Jul 2021, 07:05 GMT+10
An African-American teenager from Louisiana has won the National Spelling Bee, only the second Black competitor to win the prestigious annual contest.
Zaila Avant-garde, 14, jumped and twirled with joy upon being declared the winner after nailing the spelling of "murraya," a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian citrus trees.
"I was pretty relaxed on the subject of murraya, and pretty much any other word I got," Zaila said.
Zaila said she hopes to inspire other African Americans who might not understand the appeal of spelling or can't afford to pursue it. The only previous Black winner of the bee was also the only international winner: Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica in 1998.