Indian origin teenager Harini Logan has won the Scripps National Spelling Bee 2022 in the first-ever lightning-round tiebreaker. Read to know more about the teenager who created history.
Meet Harini Logan, the 2022 Spelling Bee champion
14-year-old Indian origin Harini Logan belongs to San Antonio, Texas. “Our 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion Harini Logan draws inspiration from Vice President Kamala Harris. After tonight, Harini is inspiring a new generation of spellers everywhere. She says it takes a village to build up a speller. Hers is happy tonight,” stated the organizers.
Logan’s final winning word was “moorhen”, a type of water bird.
“I think honestly so surreal, it’s my fourth time at the Bee. This is such a dream, this is my fourth bee and I’m just so overwhelmed,” said Logan in a conversation with CNN. “At first I was a little uneasy and I decided to take it in stride. I just had to take a deep breath and tell myself to go out there and do my best and whatever happens, happens,” she added. As the winner, she gets to take home the winner’s trophy and a $50,000 cheque.
More on Scripps National Spelling Bee
The competition’s 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic. However, it returned last year with a few changes. The first three rounds were virtually conducted in 2021. Thursday’s finals had 12 finalists. The preliminary rounds started on Tuesday with the quarter and semifinals on Wednesday.
“Like a lot of folks, I look forward to the competition every year and am excited to be a part of this wonderful tradition that celebrates excellence,” said LeVar Burton. Burton, the Emmy, and Grammy winner was the host for this year.
Harini Logan went head to head with 12-year-old Vikram Raju in the lightning round tiebreaker. The new spell-off is a format that tests contestants on how many words they can correctly spell in 90 seconds. Vikram spelled 15 words correctly while Harini spelled 21 correctly.