BREAKING: BRAVO! 👏🇺🇸 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde wins the National Spelling Bee,

[elleng]

with the word "murraya." She's the first Black-American winner in history. CONGRATULATIONS, ZAILA!

Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, becoming the first African American contestant to win in 93 editions of the competition.
She triumphed after correctly spelling murraya -- a type of tree -- to clinch the championship. To get there, the teen had to navigate her way through words like "querimonious," "solidungulate," and "Nepeta," a word the teen had to reset on, and let out a joyous jump after her correct spelling.
Avant-garde will receive a $50,000 cash prize.
She is the first Black American winner. The only Black winner before was Jody-Anne Maxwell, representing Jamaica in 1998.
Thursday night's win is just one in a long list of achievements for Avant-garde.

On Instagram, where she has gained a following of more than 14,000 people, she has shared her victorious journey toward the national spelling bee as well as videos of her playing basketball, impressing her followers with her hoop skills.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/08/us/spelling-bee-winner-zaila-avant-garde/index.html

[zuul]

1. Our local news had a segment on her this morning.

She is the cutest, sweetest kid!

[dweller]

2. It's a flower

and not the wind …

https://m.

✌🏻

[elleng]

5. LOVELY song!

[dweller]

7. When I read the word

I heard the song … had to look it up

✌🏻

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Wow! Great job and cute kid! Congratulations!

[MLAA]

4. What a girl! Spelling, basketball, Guinness Book of World Records Holder! Yeah!

[Nevilledog]

6. 🥰

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Frederick Joseph
@FredTJoseph
Zaila Avant-garde, basketball prodigy, multiple Guinness world record holder, and now the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Love to see Black girls shine.

[hibbing]

17. The twirl is priceless n/t

[crickets]

25. She is adorable! I am so happy for her.

I watched an interview of her last night, and saw her basketball dribbling talents. What an amazing young woman. Her future is so bright!

[niyad]

8. How wonderful.

I had been thinking this week of "Akila and the Bee". Now I know why.

[elleng]

9. You GOT it!!!

[summer_in_TX]

10. Spelling prodigy, basketball whizz, AND juggler!

She has such a wonderful personality too! Open, eager, genuine.

There were so many kids to cheer for, but she stood out for me even before she won.

It was lovely that Dr. Jill Biden watched in person and shared her own Spelling Bee experience. I'm not surprised to learn she was a shy kid.

[elleng]

11. Sorry I missed it all; sounds fascinating!

[ailsagirl]

12. Good for her!!!

[GeoWilliam750]

13. YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!!

Wow! Just, Wow!

[SergeStorms]

14. Another barrier broken down.

Couldn't be happier for her and her family. She has every reason to be overjoyed, and her family exceedingly proud to have raised such a fine, intelligent young lady.

[AllaN01Bear]

15. eggscllent . congrats . bravo

[WheelWalker]

16. Nepeta...

Catnip.

[burrowowl]

18. Bravo!

[Demovictory9]

19. good for her

[Demovictory9]

20. what it takes to win a national spelling bee: $130 per hour coach

She probably would not have won if she hadn't won a previous event, that gave her the money for a tutor.



Zaila will take home more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. She used the $10,000 prize from an online bee she won last year to pay for lessons with her coach, 2015 Scripps runner-up Cole Shafer-Ray, who charges $130 an hour — part of a burgeoning industry of private tutors who work with most of the top spellers.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/zaila-avante-garde-a-13-year-old-becomes-first-african-american-spelling-bee-champion/ar-AALWKR9

[smirkymonkey]

21. Congratulations, Zaila!

Well done! You will go far in life, I just know it!

[kentuck]

22. Wow!

She is impressive!

[panader0]

23. Amazing young lady!

And did you see her dribbling six basketballs?
She's coming up right now on CNN.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

24. I am so glad that we have a FLOTUS who cares about people and who is not a former sex worker

Link to tweet