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First African-American Scripps National Spelling Bee champion is crowned

14-year-old eighth grader Zaila Avant-garde from Harvey, Louisiana jumped, smiled and twirled her way to the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee championship Thursday, becoming the first African-American winner in the spelling competition's 96-year history.

According to Zaila, even though she practiced for the competition seven hours a day, spelling is just her side hobby. The new spelling bee champ is also a basketball prodigy, who holds three basketball-related Guinness World Records, hopes to attend Harvard, play in the WNBA and coach in the NBA one day. That is if she doesn't end up working for NASA.

Zaila's winning word was "murraya," which is a type of tree and, before her big win, she made a Bill Murray joke, which stole the hearts of many viewers across the country, who took to Twitter calling her "a boss."

"Murraya. Does this word contain, like, the English name 'Murray,' which could be the name of a comedian," asked Zaila. The moderator laughed before saying, "Bill Murray made the spelling bee."

Following her win, when asked what she attributes her early success in the competition to, Zaila responded, "Well, for one thing, I didn't have any more time to succeed," referring to the fact that it was her last year for eligibility. Turns out, not only is Zaila incredibly smart and talented, she's also a bit of a comedian herself.

On how she felt about winning the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee, Zaila stated, "Really good. I mean, I was a bit surprised. I've been warned about the confetti."

Video Transcript

Murraya. M-U-R-R-A-Y-A.

- That is correct.

- Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old eighth grader from Harvey Louisiana smiled and twirled her way to the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee championship Thursday, becoming the first African-American winner in the spelling competitions 96th year history.

- Zaila, how does it feel to be this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee champion?

- Oh, really good. I mean, I was a bit surprised. I've been warned about the confetti.

- According to Zaila, even though she practiced for the competition seven hours a day, spelling is just her side hobby. She's also a basketball prodigy who holds three basketball related Guinness World Records, hopes to attend Harvard, play in the WNBA, and become an NBA coach one day. That is if she doesn't work for Nasa.

On Thursday, Zaila's winning word was Murraya, a type of tree. And before her big win, she made a Bill Murray joke which Stole the hearts of many viewers across the country who took to Twitter, calling her a boss.

- Murraya. Does this word contain like the English name Murray, which could be the name of a comedian? It's an English name in general?

- I don't see that here.

- Bill Murray made the spelling bee.

- Other viewers took to Twitter Thursday praising Zaila for her confidence like this person who tweeted, "Zaila Avant-garde just straight up defining the words they offer her is the flex that I need." And after only getting into competitive spelling a couple of years ago, Zaila knew she couldn't waste any time bringing home the trophy.

- What do you attribute your early success in this competition to you?

- I feel indicted having any more time to succeed. And--

- This was your last eligibility year, right?

- Yeah.