Zaila Avant-garde has made history by becoming the first African-American to win the US Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, cruised to victory with the word “murraya”, a type of tropical tree. To get to that point she had to spell out “querimonious” and “solidungulate”.
Zaila saw off a field of 11 finalists on Thursday to win the title and bagged the first-place prize of $50,000 (£36,000) at the event in Orlando, Florida beating 12-year-old Chaitra Thummala of Frisco, Texas in the final round.
Zaila becomes the second black girl to win the tournament – Jody-Anne Maxwell, of Jamaica, was crowned champion in 1998 at the age of 12. The bee, however, has still been a showcase for spellers of color over the past two decades, with kids of South Asian descent dominating the competition.
Despite practicing for up to seven hours a day, she describes spelling as a side hobby, Zaila’s main focus is on becoming a basketball pro. She already holds three world records for dribbling multiple balls at once, and has appeared in an advertisement with the NBA megastar Stephen Curry.
Zaila’s win breaks a streak of at least one Indian-American champion every year since 2008.
It was the first time since 2008 that at least one champion or co-champion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee was not of South Asian descent, the Associated Press news agency reports.