'Moorhen' is winning word in US spelling bee

Two finalists faced off in a first ever 'spell-off' for Scripps National Spelling Bee

Harini Logan, 14, from San Antonio, Texas, and President and CEO of Scripps Company Adam Symson, hold the Scripps National Spelling Bee winning trophy. AP

AP

Harini Logan, 14, from San Antonio, Texas, and Vikram Raju, 12, from Aurora, Colorado during the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. AP

AP

Reuters

Harini Logan celebrates with her family. AFP

AP

Vikram Raju from Denver, Colorado, reacts after spelling a word correctly. AFP

Competitors who made it to the final round stand for a group photo at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. AFP

Actor LeVar Burton speaks at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. AP

Actor LeVar Burton gestures to the 12 finalists during the Scripps National Spelling Bee. AP

Saharsh Vuppala from Bellevue, Washington, touches the hand of his twin sister Deetya Vuppala, as she departs after misspelling her word. AP

A total of 234 spellers are competing in the first fully in-person Bee since 2019. AFP

Sahana Srikanth, from Cincinnati, Ohio, reacts after spelling a word correctly. AFP

Ishika Varipilli from Spring, Texas, waits to compete. AP

A view of the trophy during the Scripps National Spelling Bee taking place in Oxon Hill, Maryland. AFP

Vivinsha Veduru from Keller, Texas, wears shoes that read 'Queen Bee' as she competes. AP

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