Zaila Avant-garde becomes first African American Spelling Bee winner

Zaila Avant-garde won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night, making her the first African American champion of the contest.

Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from Harvey, La., won the Scripps Cup in the 18th round after she correctly spelled the word “murraya.” She is the first African American contestant to win in the competition’s 96-year history, according to The Associated Press.

The first champion from Louisiana, #Speller133 Zaila Avant-garde wins the Scripps Cup! #SpellingBee #TheBeeIsBack pic.twitter.com/YqjYKt7R2q

— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) July 9, 2021

After she spelled murraya correctly, Avant-garde jumped around the stage, and confetti was blasted.

13-year-old Zaila Avant-garde of Louisiana is your 93rd Scripps National #SpellingBee champion ‼️

The first African-American winner of the competition pic.twitter.com/y2Y5dAGcVN

— ESPN (@espn) July 9, 2021

The competition returned after it was canceled last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, the first time it had not been held since World War II.

The Spelling Bee announced that it would return in a mostly virtual format in April, only allowing 12 people at a Disney-owned ESPN campus, as opposed to holding the event in Washington, D.C. The timeline was also expanded from one week to several weeks.

Preliminary rounds were held in June, semifinals were held late last month, and the televised final rounds were held Thursday.

Coming in second place was Chaitra Thummala of Frisco, Texas, and Bhavana Madini of New York City came in third, according to The Washington Post.

The Post noted that Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica became the competition’s first Black champion in 1998.

First lady Jill Biden met with the spellers and their families immediately before the prime-time finals on Thursday. She previously attended the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee in D.C. as second lady.