We have finally had our first Spelling Bee winner from the state of NJ, plus the first girl since 1999:

The fifth time was the charm for Jersey girl Katharine Close, the winner of this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Close, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from H.W. Mountz School in Spring Lake, N.J., won the competition in her fifth straight appearance in the finals on Thursday night.

[…]

Close correctly spelled “ursprache,” which means language, to become the first girl since 1999 – and the first contestant from New Jersey – to win in the history of the contest. Last year, she tied for seventh place with Saryn Hooks of Taylorsville, N.C.

[…]

Close will take $42,000 in cash and prizes back to her home, where she will be a freshman at High Tech High School in the fall.

Read the rest here.
I think it’s neat that she didn’t give up and that she continued to compete even though she kept losing. And who knew that there was some decent bucks in the spelling bee business :-).