Katharine Close is an eighth grader from Spring Lake, New Jersey. She has just won the Scripps National Spelling Bee contest celebrated in Washington DC. This has been her fifth attempt. She first tried when she was 8, and now she is 13. Last year she came in seventh place, but last night she beat all the other students and received more than $ 42,000 in cash and prizes.
Katharine is officially the best speller in the US. She says she practices spelling every day for an hour or two depending on how much homework she has. Next year, she won’t be able to be part of the contest since she will be too old to participate; she will be 14.
