Harini Logan, 14, wins Scripps National Spelling Bee in historic tiebreaker
Harini Logan clinched the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night, becoming the first ever contestant to win in a tiebreaker.
The big picture: The 14-year-old, who was reinstated earlier in the night, spelled 21 words correctly during a 90-second spell-off round, defeating Vikram Raju, 12, from Denver, Colorado, to win the trophy, per AP.
What happened: Harini, an eighth-grader from San Antonio, Texas, was eliminated from the Spelling Bee during the multiple-choice vocabulary round.
- During that round, Harini defined the word "pullulation" as the nesting of mating birds. However, Scripps said the word was a swarming of bees.
Yes, but: "We did a little sleuthing after you finished, which is what our job is, to make sure we've made the right decision," said lead judge Mary Brooks told Logan, per AP. "We [did] a little deep dive in that word and actually the answer you gave to that word is considered correct, so we're going to reinstate you."
- From there, Harini and Vikram competed against each other. Logan won the lightning round to claim the trophy.
Our 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion #Speller231 Harini Logan draws inspiration from VP @KamalaHarris. 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. 🐝 #spellingbee pic.twitter.com/m3RNiM2qvl
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) June 3, 2022
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