Harini Logan Wins 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee Following a Spell-Off
The 14-year-old takes home the 2022 Scripps Cup after spelling 22 words correctly in the Spell-off
Harini Logan, 14, from San Antonio, Texas, competes during the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, in Oxon Hill, Md
Spelling Bee, Oxon Hill, United States – 02 Jun 2022
Harini Logan is the winner of the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Scripps announced Harini as the champion of the national spelling contest after facing off against one other speller in a down-to-the-wire Spell-off competition that involved a 90-second speed round. The 14-year-old eighth grader hailing from San Antonio spelled 22 words correctly, upsetting her opponent, 12-year-old Vikram Raju, who fell short with only 15 words.
Logan’s final winning word was moorhen, a noun defined as the female of the red grouse.
Harini outspelled 230 competitors at the national level, taking on words like pyrrolidone, Senijextee, Otukian, and scyllarian to secure the grand prize, according to The New York Times.
In addition to winning $50,000, she earned a commemorative medal and the Scripps Cup, as well as a $2,500 cash prize and reference library from Merriam-Webster and $400 of reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica.
Harini Logan, 14, from San Antonio, Texas, gets a kiss from her mom Rampriya Logan on stage as she celebrates winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee, in Oxon Hill, Md
Spelling Bee, Oxon Hill, United States – 02 Jun 2022
Raju, a seventh grader from Denver, took home a second place medal for spelling 15 words correctly in the Spell-off. According to the Scripp’s official Twitter account, Raju has one final chance to take home the prized Scripps cup.
“We know he’ll take a page out of his favorite athlete’s @nuggets’ #NikolaJokic book and do what Nikola does: stay tenacious, motivated, and work hard,” the account wrote of the runner-up.
The 12 finalists, who ranged in age between 11 and 14, hailed from all across the country, including Washington, Texas, Florida and New York.
Vikram Raju, 12, from Aurora, Colo., competes during the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, in Oxon Hill, Md
Spelling Bee, Oxon Hill, United States – 02 Jun 2022
This year’s competition marked the first fully in-person Bee since 2019.
In 2020, the Bee was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021, spellers competed virtually in the quarterfinals and semifinals, with finalists then traveling to Florida for the big event.
For the 2022 event, the Scripps National Spelling Bee welcomed 234 spellers to National Harbor, Maryland, as the national rounds of competition began at the end of May.
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The national qualifiers ranged in age from 7 to 15, with 45 spellers having previously competed in the Bee.
Serving as host this year was LeVar Burton.
In 2019, the Bee saw an unprecedented outcome when eight contestants tied to win. After 17 rounds, longtime announcer (and 1980 champion!) Jacques Bailly said the competition would end after 20 rounds, and anyone who spelled three more words correctly would be crowned co-champions.
And last year, Zaila Avant-garde became the first Black American student to be crowned the champion in the Bee’s nearly century-long history.
The 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee aired live on ION at 8 p.m. EST on Thursday.
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