National bee champ makes H-I-S-T-O-R-Y

Zaila Avant-garde, 14, holds the trophy after winning the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Thursday. Joe Skipper/Reuters

By Tom Hanks

Put some R-E-S-P-E-C-T on this name –– Zaila Avant-garde.

Avant-garde made history Thursday night as the first African-American winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, with the word “murraya” - meaning a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family.

While not the first Black champion – that honor goes to Jody-Anne Maxwell, the 1998 winner from Jamaica, the star speller was in her element as she probed pronouncer Jacques Bailly with questions on words with Greek and Latin roots.

The bee has become a showcase for children of color, with South Asian kids routinely dominating the competition, even inspiring a movie: Akeelah and the Bee (2006) starring Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett.

Avant-garde describes spelling as a “side hobby,” although she practiced for upwards of seven hours a day.

She said her dad gave her the last name Avant-garde as a nod to jazz musician John Coltrane. Her winning amidst the backdrop of an unprecedented and unusual bee, the first in more than two years, only validates the excellence of her name. The 2020 bee was canceled due to the pandemic, and this one was thoroughly modified to minimize risk to kids and their families.

Most of the bee was held virtually, and only the 11 finalists got to compete in person, in a small portion of a large arena in the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, which also hosted the NBA playoff bubble last year.

The in-person crowd was limited to spellers' immediate family members, Scripps staff, selected media — and first lady Dr. Jill Biden who gave the spellers words of encouragement and stayed to watch the competition.

She will take home more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Coming in second place was Chaitra Thummala, a 12-year-old from Frisco, Texas, near Dallas.