2021

The 93rd Scripps National Spelling Bee took place on July 8th, 2021. It was held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort, and 209 spellers participated.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center was closed to events in 2021, so the National Competition was hosted at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Only the Final rounds were held in person; all prior rounds were completed virtually.

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About the 93rd Bee

Champion

Zaila Avant-garde

New Orleans, Louisiana

Zaila Avant-garde, age 14, sponsored by the New Orleans Chapter of The Links, won the $50,000 prize by correctly spelling the word “Murraya.”

Zaila has written five books since her championship. She also has appeared on the Bee broadcast on Ion. She continues to hold two Guinness World Records.

Location

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex

at the Walt Disney World Resort

Winning Word

Murraya(n)

MUR-ee-uh

a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves and flowers with imbricated petals.

This word was formed in Latin from a Swedish name.

OFFICIALS

Directors

Dr. J. Michael Durnil

Judges

  • Mary Brooks
  • Blake Giddens
  • Ben Zimmer
  • Barrie Trinkle
  • Sameer Mishra
  • Frank Cahill
  • Kristin Hawkins

Pronouncers

  • Dr. Jacques Bailly
  • Dr. Brian Sietsema
  • Dr. Kevin Moch

SPELLER ROSTER

  • Shireen Abdolmohammadi
  • Danielle Addo
  • Isaac Ahn
  • Rania Al-Attar
  • Kleema Al-Ghazali
  • Greta Alajoki
  • Sophia Amchentsev
  • Pranav Anandh
  • Christian Antonio
  • Emaan Arshad
  • Ananya Augustine
  • Zaila Avant-garde
  • Alexis Bailey
  • Charan Bala
  • Akshita Balaji
  • Rajshekhar Basu Sarkar
  • Dhroov Bharatia
  • Ishya Bhavsar
  • Pritikaa Biswas
  • Ty Blacker
  • Aurianey Borja
  • Summer Bostic
  • Hudson Brown
  • Oliver Brown
  • Lyrik Brown
  • Jonah Bryant
  • Cross Burgess
  • Xander Busjahn
  • Kristen Carrington
  • Sarah Carroll
  • Alisha Chandra
  • Vinu Chandrasekar
  • Lukas Chavis
  • Amitoj Chouhan
  • Drew Clawson
  • Arcadia Corn
  • London Cornwell
  • Riley Crysell
  • Arth Dalsania
  • Pooja Dayaratna
  • Kristianna Desormeaux
  • Lindsay DeVore
  • Christopher Dominick
  • Tanish Doshi
  • James Dover
  • Savannah Driver
  • Steven Dubin
  • Matthew Dufour
  • Kerem Duyar
  • Logan Edwards
  • Aaron Ehsan
  • Ramya Elangovan
  • Mareela Eshaq
  • Charles Fennell
  • Hannah Fernandes
  • Isabella Fletcher
  • Maximilian Foley
  • Lilly Foo
  • Tyler Friel
  • Sreethan Gajula
  • Brayden Gallardo
  • Angelina Gampala
  • Ashrita Gandhari
  • Shriya Gangineni
  • Thansi Garikipati
  • Ananya Gautam
  • Cana Gerald
  • Colette Giezentanner
  • Immanuel Goveas
  • Nadia Grierson
  • Eleanor Grous
  • Claire Harris
  • Emily Hart
  • Zaynah Hector
  • Zac Honeycutt
  • Maya Jadhav
  • Rishidharan Jayakumar
  • Shwetha Jayakumar
  • Brianna Jimison
  • Destiny Johnson
  • Aditya Jonnalagedda
  • Avani Joshi
  • Dahyun (Claire) Jung
  • Akshainie Kamma
  • Tejas Katira
  • Mary Kauffman
  • Shelby Kaye
  • Kathleen Keesey
  • Ishita Khiani
  • Seoyon Kim
  • Arnav Kolluru
  • Eeshawnee Kotaru
  • Titus Kottwitz
  • Vayun Krishna
  • Nathaniel Kuhn
  • Eliana Kut
  • Jaedillene Laurino
  • Baominh Le
  • Peregrine Lewis
  • Blanche Li
  • Garrett Li
  • Sophia Lin
  • Isabel Liu
  • Collin Loeks
  • Harini Logan
  • Abigail Lollis
  • Sophia Lopez
  • Ryann Louwsma
  • Charlynne Lowe
  • Dominick Lund-May
  • Bhavana Madini
  • Eesh Majithia
  • Ananya Mandrekar
  • Naa Koshie Manyo-Plange
  • Samuel Martin
  • Nathan McElroy
  • Teagan Meachum
  • Quinn Meadows
  • Rohan Mehta
  • Viseth Meng
  • Morgan Moats
  • Maya Mollick
  • Na’amah Morbeth
  • Parker Muench
  • Colman Mullins
  • Harini Murali
  • Sanya Nadeem
  • Tarini Nandakumar
  • Ananya Nanduru
  • Atharv Narvekar
  • Jenna Ng
  • Long Nguyen
  • Hurshil Nittala
  • Matthew Noel
  • Mac Northcraft
  • Simione Olakauatu
  • Nalleti Otieno
  • Yugen Padhye
  • Yena Park
  • Dhilan Patel
  • Teebro Paul
  • William Perez
  • Coleen Pettingill
  • Karishma Pilla
  • Mujtaba Raja
  • Joseph Rajaratnam
  • Vikram Raju
  • Tara Rakesh
  • Ishan Ramrakhiani
  • Lara Randhawa
  • Srinidhi Rao
  • Alesya Rathinasamy
  • Shawn Ray
  • Carter Rayburn
  • Ashley Reed
  • Emmanuel Rimocal
  • Caleb Rodriguez
  • Juan Rondeau
  • Ayushi Sainath
  • Sahana Sampath
  • Keerthana Samuel
  • Sahasrad Sathish
  • Sage Sawhney
  • Angelia Schmerr
  • Ashland Schnell
  • Roy Seligman
  • Dev Shah
  • Shayari Shanti
  • Jiya Shetty
  • Twisha Shetty
  • Jason Shi
  • Vihaan Sibal
  • Shijay Sivakumar
  • Emily Snider
  • Silvana Solsoloy
  • Richard Sowa
  • Sindura Sridhar
  • Sahana Srikanth
  • Emma Sroka
  • Zahyir Stephens
  • Jonah Stout
  • Eliana Szabo
  • Ethan Taw
  • Christabel Thiel-Hadjilambrinos
  • Keona Thomas
  • Irene Thomas
  • Kyrsten Thompson
  • Sarah Thompson
  • Elizabeth Thompson
  • Chaitra Thummala
  • Zachary Thurnher
  • LynnClara Tun
  • Glendian Vasili
  • Xavier Vasquez
  • Vivinsha Veduru
  • Aadhavan Veerendra
  • Milana Villalobos
  • Achuth Vinay
  • Akash Vukoti
  • Avery Williams
  • Nicholas Williams
  • Erik Williams
  • Amor Wilson
  • Sriya Wint
  • Jonathan Xi
  • Andrew Yeager
  • Anneliese Yu
  • Marium Zahra
  • Movonna Zarbock

* Winner
** Runner-Up