A five-year-old Oklahoma girl has scripted history by becoming the youngest person ever to qualify for the Scripps National Spelling Bee after she cracked the final word, "jnana," a Sanskrit word.
Edith Fuller booked a trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington after she out-spelled more than 50 older contestants to win a regional bee in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that lasted around five hours, US media reported today.
The home-schooled student will be the youngest competitor ever in the national spelling bee, which will hold its 90th contest in May, usually dominated by Indian-American children.
"I'm going to D.C.!" she said with a smile as the event wound down last Saturday, drawing applause from the audience.
The folks at Scripps are already calling Fuller the latest "spellebrity."
Her final word, "jnana," is a Sanskrit word for "knowledge" in Indian philosophy and religion.
Other words Fuller had to spell to earn her way to the national bee in Washington, D.C., include sevruga (a type of caviar); virgule (an accent mark); Nisei (a child of Japanese immigrants who is born in the U.S.); jacamar (a long-billed bird); and alim (a Muslim scholar).
It all started last summer, when Edith surprised her parents by spelling "restaurant" correctly, her mother Annie, told the Tulsa World newspaper.
"It's fun to share her with everyone," said Annie Fuller, her mother.
"I knew she'd be a novelty, so I'm proud she held her own," she added.
The National Spelling Bee is open to contestants who have not finished the eighth grade. There is no minimum age to compete.
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