National Spell Bee champion decided by blazing fast, first-ever spell-off

George Back
·Producer, Yahoo Entertainment
Updated ·1 min read
74

Harini Logan was crowned the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion after a historic spell-off. Throughout Thursday’s finals, Logan and Vikram Raju appeared evenly matched. To expedite the game, judges decided that the best way to determine a winner was to have the first spell-off in the competition’s 94-year history.

Logan and Raju were each given 90 seconds to spell as many words as possible. Competitors were sequestered so they could not hear the spell-off word list. Whichever competitor correctly spelled a higher percentage of words would become the champion.

Raju went first and was impressive. He correctly spelled 15 words in a minute and a half. Unfortunately for him, Logan came out the gate firing and appeared to be on a different level. She correctly spelled 21 words and was crowned the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion. She also took home the $50,000 cash prize and a few extra goodies from Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica.

While many viewers complained about pace of play throughout the tournament, it appeared that the vast majority enjoyed the intensity of the spell-off. It certainly made for a heart-pounding finale, especially for the 14-year-old eighth-grader from San Antonio who won.

For more information on annual competition, visit Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Watch as Jill Biden discussing being too ‘afraid of public speaking’ to appear in spelling bee despite qualifying:

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.