By BEN NUCKOLS
Associated Press

Navneeth Murali is the winner of the closest thing to a national spelling bee in this pandemic-disrupted year. Navneeth won the SpellPundit Online National Spelling Bee on Thursday night. The bee was created to fill the void left by the cancellation of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which would have been held this week and televised by ESPN. The SpellPundit bee was conducted on Zoom and shown on Facebook Live. Navneeeth is a veteran of the Scripps bee and had his sights set on winning it this year, his final year of eligibility. The 14-year-old from Edison, New Jersey, is an eighth-grader and will be too old to spell next year.

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