Ghana’s Afua Ansah applauded for reaching Scripps National Spelling Bee finals

In a remarkable feat which is being widely applauded and celebrated, Ghana’s Afua Ansah became the country’s first Scripps (U.S.) National Spelling Bee finalist.

The 14 year-old from Ridge Church School in Accra, made history when she made it in the top 45 finals of the 2016 Scripps Spelling Bee competition.

This year’s competition comprised of 285 spellers from various U.S. states and countries including Jamaica, Japan, South Korea, Canada and the Bahamas.

Ansah, the seventh grader from Accra battled it out with other talented spellers in the preliminary test, preliminary round two and three, before reaching the final.

Ansah had the second highest score in the preliminary exam, scoring 29 out of 30 points, before she misspelled “Liechtenstein” in the final. Despite bowing out of the competition in the final round, Ansah, who draws inspiration from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie held her own.

#speller49 7th grader Afua Ansah from Ghana spelled the word 'dipnoous' (having both lungs and gills) correctly #spellingbee

— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 26, 2016

#speller49 Afua Ansah spelled the word 'Liechtenstein' incorrectly #spellingbee

— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 26, 2016

Throughout the competition, Ansah received encouragement from her supporters and although she didn’t win the crown, she has done her country proud. The teenager who identifies Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists, as her favourite book, says the Nigerian writer is the person she would most like to meet.

The Spelling Bee eventually ended in a tie, with Jairam Hathwar (New York) and Nihar Janga (Texas) being crowned champions.

Social media has been awash with congratulatory messages on Ansah’s amazing achievement.

We look at some of the messages on social media.

Too bad. But congrats all the same to Afua Ansah for making it this far. Better luck next time. And thanks Justin for keeping us posted.

— Israel Laryea (@TheIsraelLaryea) May 26, 2016

Here's who's doing Ghana more proud than you probably are right now. Afua Ansah. Go you! ???????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/8b0RJ2Fp8r

— NYFA (@Kotokovski) May 27, 2016

Rooting for Chaunte' Blackwood and Afua Ansah. Represent ! ???????????????????? #SpellingBee @ScrippsBee

— 50shadesofnutella (@TiffOnwudinanti) May 26, 2016