'Moorhen' is winning word in US spelling bee


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Fourteen-year-old Harini Logan of San Antonio, Texas, has won the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee after a first ever "spell-off" was required for a champion to be named in the extremely close competition.

Harini takes home $50,000 from Scripps, plus further cash prizes and reference works from Merriam-Webster and Encyclopaedia Britannica.

She beat Vikram Raju of Denver, Colorado, on Thursday after their neck-and-neck competition required a "spell-off" to decide the winner, a first in the history of the Bee. The second-place prize is $25,000.

The winning word, Scripps said, was “moorhen,” which means the female of the red grouse, because that was the one that moved her past Vikram.

They claimed the top spots in the competition that pitted spellers ages 7-15 from across the US and its territories, from as far away as Guam, for the annual Bee. This year's competition was held at National Harbour, Maryland, right outside Washington.

In the spell-off, each competitor had 90 seconds to spell as many words correctly as possible. Vikram went first and spelled 15 words correctly of the 19 he attempted.

Harini, who waited for her turn in a sound-proof area, went on to spell 21 words correctly of the 26 she attempted.

Both had the same list of words read to them, ringing a bell to signal they were ready to advance to the next word.

Most Bee contestants were middle-school age and all were required to test negative for Covid-19 to participate and were masked on stage except when actively competing.

Harini is a grade eight pupil at The Montessori School of San Antonio. She loves creative writing and plans to publish a book in high school. When she's not spelling, she plays piano, recorder and is learning the ukulele.

This was her fourth and final year as a Bee contender.

Last year, when Zaila Avant-garde correctly spelled "Murraya", a genus of plants, she became the first African American to win the prestigious competition that began in 1925.

Competitors this year included 105 girls, 128 boys and one speller who identifies as non-binary.

After 27 years of being broadcast live on the cable sports channel ESPN, this year's live show was moved to ION and Bounce, both networks owned by a Scripps subsidiary. The show's host was actor LeVar Burton.

In 2019, an eight-way tie included such mind-bending winning words as "erysipelas", a skin infection; "auslaut", the final sound in a word or syllable; "palama", webbing on the feet of aquatic birds; "pendeloque", a pear-shaped gemstone or glass pendant; "odylic", related to a hypothetical life force; "cernuous", drooping; "bougainvillea", a climbing plant; and "aiguillette", the braided ornament on military uniforms.

Agencies contributed to this report

12-year-old Vikram Raju from Denver, Colorado takes a moment to himself during the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Harbor Resort in Oxon Hill, Maryland. AFP
12-year-old Vikram Raju from Denver, Colorado takes a moment to himself during the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Harbor Resort in Oxon Hill, Maryland. AFP
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