The 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee has advanced to the Quarter Finals stage with only 74 Spellers qualifying out of 207 who begun – Ghana’s Naa Koshie Manyo-Plange did not qualify for the Quarter-Finals.

The word that got her out was bêtise, a word of French origin, meaning: an act of foolishness or stupidity. She misspelt it as ‘baitese’.

This year’s virtual Scripps Spelling Bee competition had a new format. For the Preliminaries, each Speller got to participate in up to 3 rounds consecutively during their participation. If a Speller spelt correctly in Round One, they competed immediately in Round Two (Vocabulary Round). If a Speller answered correctly in Round Two, they went on to compete immediately in Round Three.

Naa was out of the competition upon missing her word, just like the other Spellers who had misspelt before and after her. Asked how she felt about her performance, Naa said, ” I gave it my best and wish that could have taken me through.”

Her mother, Prof. Sena Dei-Tutu, who was with her during the virtual competition, also said, ” Even though she didn’t make it through, I must say this has been a very positive and confidence-building period for her. So, for that alone, I will say we won – and that is no cliché!”

Eugenia Tachie-Menson, Country Director of Young Educators Foundation – organisers of The Spelling Bee, said, ” Naa Koshie has indeed given off her best, especially in these unusual times. Moreso when she had school exams to prepare for, coupling that with our rigorous Bee schedule is no mean feat. We remain proud of Naa, and we hope her 3-year journey in the Bee will impact her significantly throughout her life.”

Naa Koshie Manyo-Plange won The Spelling Bee 2021 in February this year by spelling AMAXOPHOBIA correctly. Other words she had previously spelt correctly included wildebeest, soligenous, dermatology and philosophise.

The Spelling Bee – Gh is sponsored by Indomie, DStv, US Embassy-Accra, Goil, Ashesi University, Kenya Airways, Rufus Green Parks and Frankie’s.