Her winning word was murraya, "a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves and flowers with imbricated petals." Chaitra Thummala, 12, placed second; coming in third was 13-year-old Bhavana Madini.

Avant-garde's victory was the more remarkable given her previous finish: In 2019 (when eight students shared in victory), she tied for 370th place. (Event organizers canceled the 2020 event because of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

The nationally televised final took place at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort, near Orlando, Fla. The final was the culmination of a series of events that began with 209 national qualifiers.

The winner got a $50,000 cash prize, $2,500 and a reference library from Merriam-Webster, and $400 of reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica.

The multi-talented Avant-garde is also a basketball wizard, having played since she was 5 and owning a handful of Guinness records for dribbling a basketball. She has a career aspiration of playing in the WNBA and has also appeared in an ad with Golden State Warriors phenom Stephen Curry.

As a result of her newfound fame, Avant-garde, her state's first-ever Spelling Bee winner, can already count on at least one higher education offer: Louisiana State University has offered her a full scholarship to its Honors College.