Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, has made history at the US Scripps National Spelling Bee. She has become the first African American to win the highly-respected contest.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee (commonly called the National Spelling Bee) is an annual spelling bee held in the US for children up to the age of 14. The contest is very popular and airs on the sports channel ESPN.

This year, Zaila won the contest by spelling her final word “murraya”, a type of tropical tree.

She says that she practices spelling for about 7 hours a day, or about 13,000 words (per day). This is apart from school and other activities.

However, for Zaila, spelling is just a side hobby. Her main aim is to become a basketball player. She even holds three world records for dribbling multiple balls at once.

Indian-American children and spelling bees

South Asian children (especially Indians) are famous for being excellent at spelling bee contests in the US. This year is the first time since 2008 that at least one champion or co-champion of the National Spelling Bee is not of South Asian descent. Even this year, 9 of the 11 finalists at the contest were Indian-American kids.

 

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