Who is Harini Logan, Indian-American girl who won Scripps National Spelling Bee 2022?

Harini Logan, an Indian-American girl, made headlines this year when she won the Scripps National Spelling Bee. In the first-ever lightning-round tiebreaker, an eighth-grader from San Antonio, Texas, topped the spelling bee. According to a tweet from the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the 14-year-old successfully spelled 22 words during the historic spell-off.

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

Between rounds 13 and 18, the final two competitors, Vikram Raju and Harini Logan, had difficulty spelling their words. At that time, the judges decided to hold the first spell-off, giving 90 seconds to spell as many words properly as possible, and the champion would win the Bee. Logan successfully spelled 22 words, including her final winning word, moorhen, a noun that describes the female red grouse. The other contender, Raju, spelled 15. Harini won a $50,000 cash reward as the winner.

Among the words Logan correctly spelt were 'sereh,' a fragrant grass of southern Asia, 'charadriiform,' an order of birds that includes shorebirds, auks, and gulls, and 'ditalini,' short elbow-shaped macaroni. According to the Scripps National Spelling Bee 2022, Logan is inspired by Kamala Harris, the first Indian-origin US Vice President, and believes that it takes a village to raise a speller.

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