• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Sophia Bush’s girlfriend ‘proud’ the actress has opened up about coming out as queer
  • Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!
  • Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

U.S. national spelling bee champ is Harini Logan of Texas in historic win

Towleroad June 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

Published by
Reuters

By Barbara Goldberg

(Reuters) -Harini Logan, 14, of San Antonio won the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday after a first-ever “spell-off” was required for a champion to emerge in the extremely close competition.

Logan takes home $50,000 from Scripps, plus further money prizes and reference works from Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica.

She beat Vikram Raju, 12, of Denver 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.

They claimed the top spots in the competition that pitted spellers ages 7-15 from across the United States and as far away as Guam for the 94th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year's competition was held at National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.

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

Logan, who waited for her turn in a sound-proof area, emerged 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 onstage except when actively competing.

Logan is an eighth-grade student 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, 14, from New Orleans 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.

The Bee was televised live. Play-by-play commentary heightens the excitement as contestants rack their brains to come up with the correct spellings for often obscure words.

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.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien, Robert Birsel)

Topics: Aaon, Actor, Education, Health, History, Sports More Posts About: Covid-19, Guam, Merriam-Webster, National Harbor, Maryland, Reuters, Scripps National Spelling Bee

Related Posts
  • LGBT rights yield to religious interests at US Supreme Court
  • U.S. launches $7bln program to bring solar to low-income households
  • Factbox-Rulings by US Supreme Court during its current term
  • Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

    Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Mel B will “always be open” when it comes to her sexuality. The Spice Girls singer, 48, who reunited with her bandmates including the group's ex-singer Victoria Beckham for the fashion …Read More »
  • Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

    Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Megan Thee Stallion is being sued for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and forcing her cameraman to watch her having lesbian sex. The 29-year-old ‘Savage' rapper faces the salacious claims …Read More »
  • Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

    Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Jonathan Bennett's life was “changed forever” by his role in ‘Mean Girls'. The 42-year-old actor starred as heartthrob Aaron Samuels in the 2004 cult classic – which followed Lindsay Lohan, Rachel …Read More »
  • Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

    Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass a gift basket after he came out as gay. The 44-year-old NSYNC star revealed the legendary singer showed his support when Lance decided to reveal …Read More »
Previous Post: « Rachel Brosnahan was told she was ‘not funny’ before landing Marvelous Mrs. Maisel role
Next Post: Why US gun violence spikes in warm weather »

Primary Sidebar

Most Recent

  • Sophia Bush’s girlfriend ‘proud’ the actress has opened up about coming out as queer

    Sophia Bush’s girlfriend ‘proud’ the actress has opened up about coming out as queer

  • Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

    Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

  • Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

    Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

  • Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

    Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

  • Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

    Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

  • Relationship status influences heterosexual women’s sexual prejudice towards lesbians

    Relationship status influences heterosexual women’s sexual prejudice towards lesbians

  • JoJo Siwa had a challenge transitioning to new grown-up image

    JoJo Siwa had a challenge transitioning to new grown-up image

  • Liz Hurley defends lesbian sex scene in new movie that was directed by her son

    Liz Hurley defends lesbian sex scene in new movie that was directed by her son

Partner Links

  • C&L's Late Night Music Club With Lena Hall: 'Hold Me Now'
    I was playing in a very cool corporate band in the […]
  • Nikki Blonsky Then & Now: She spills on CAMEO success and always being ‘from the movie ‘Hairspray”
    Nikki Blonsky reflects on her nearly two-decade career in Hollywood, from […]
  • Today’s Morning Man: Gregory Harrison!
    I fell in love with as Gonzo Gates on Trapper John MD, […]
  • Trump Fired Smithsonian Director And Aims To Slash Funding
    Donald Trump doesn’t even know what National Portrait Gallery Director Kim […]
  • See Cher’s full interview with Howard Stern
    This is from last year and while I had seen clips, […]

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

About

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy
[towleroadmr] [towleroadtn]

Footer

Ptown Hacks 2018

Read

  • Travel
  • Film
  • Law – LGBT Rights
  • Columns
  • Specials

About

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 · Log in

×
×