Meet Harini Logan-The Indian-Origin Teen Who Won Spelling Bee 2022

Harini Logan, a 14-year-old Indian-American eighth-grader from Texas, was crowned the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion after a historic spell-off. Throughout the finals, Logan and Vikram Raju appeared evenly matched and 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.

Both of the participants were given 90 seconds each to spell as many words as possible. Raju went first and did a fantastic job by spelling 15 words correctly in a minute and a half. Unfortunately for him, Logan appeared to be on a different level as 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 the Scripps Cup trophy, along with a few extra goodies from Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica.

Vikram Raju, a 12-year-old boy from Denver who gave Logan a tough competition finished second, Vihaan Sibal, a 13-year-old from Texas, finished third while Saharsh Vuppala, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Washington, was fourth.