For the first time in the competition’s 97-year history, the winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee was determined by a “spell-off.”
Harini Logan, 14, of San Antonio, Texas successfully navigated words such as “phreatophyte” and “gaydiang” as part of the inaugural championship spell-off.
Logan bested Vikram Raju, 12, of Denver by successfully spelling 21 of an attempted 26 words in a 90-second window. Raju spelled 15 of his 19 words correctly.
“Honestly it’s just so surreal. Of course, this is my 4th time at the Bee and this is just such a dream and well I’m just overwhelmed,” said Logan, laughing as she cradled the championship trophy in both hands.
In addition to the trophy, Logan also took home $50,000 as part of her championship prize.
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