Watch Zaila Avant-garde Become First Black American to Win Scripps Spelling Bee (Video) Louisiana teen is also a basketball prodigy who shot TV commercial with Stephen Curry Alex Noble | July 8, 2021 @ 8:31 PM After a one-year pandemic hiatus, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has returned and crowned its first Black American winner in history, 14-year-old Louisiana resident Zaila Avant-garde. Spelling isn’t her only talent though, Avant-garde is also a Guinness World Record-holding basketball prodigy. Avant-garde won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, one of the most prestigious of its kind, on Thursday night, beating out 10 other young scholars from across the country. The competition ultimately came down to Avant-garde and 12-year-old Chaitra Thummala before a rapid-fire exchange of botanical quiz words ended with the Avant-garde winning on the word “murraya” (it’s a flowering plant, commonly known as orange jasmine).