Fifth time at the microphone
Katharine Close, known as Kerry, was an eighth-grader from Spring Lake on the New Jersey shore when she won the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The word was 'Ursprache', a German term for a reconstructed parent language. The New York Times put it in the headline the next morning: for a New Jersey eighth-grader, 'Ursprache' means fame.
What the headline left out was the count. This was her fifth trip to the national finals. Spellers qualify through regional bees and most reach Washington once, perhaps twice. Close had come back year after year, and the coverage that followed treated the win less as a surprise than as an arrival.
The records she broke
Two droughts ended at once. Close was the first female champion since 1999, and the first winner from New Jersey since 1971. The Associated Press report carried by NBC News, UPI's wire story and the Deseret News all led on the state and the gender lines, and Scripps issued its own release naming Katharine Close the 2006 champion.
The runner-up was Finola Hackett of Alberta, one of the Canadian spellers the American bee has admitted for decades, a reminder that the competition's field is not confined to the United States.
A bee in transition
The 2006 final was among the first to be carried in prime time on American network television, and the size of that audience changed what winning meant. A child who had been competing in school gymnasiums was suddenly a broadcast figure, interviewed with the cadence of a sports champion.
Close handled it in the register the bee tends to produce: precise, unshowy, and faintly amused by the attention. That tone is part of why the competition has kept its hold on American viewers for a century.
Where Kerry Close is now
She works in public relations and is known professionally as Kerry Close Guaragno. In May 2025, when NPR marked the Scripps bee's hundredth year by crowning a new champion and asking past winners to reflect, she was among those revisiting what the title had meant.
That is the extent of what the record documents. No source used here gives her employer, her university or any detail of her private life, and none is inferred here.
What the bee asks of a 13-year-old
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is not a memory contest, or not only one. Competitors are taught to ask for language of origin, part of speech, alternate pronunciations and use in a sentence, and to reconstruct an unfamiliar word from the spelling conventions of the language it was borrowed from. 'Ursprache' is a case in point: a German compound, and a speller who knows German orthography can build it rather than recall it.
The preparation that makes this possible runs to years. Champions typically study roots and language patterns across several seasons, returning to the national finals after early exits, which is why the winners' list is full of names that appear three or four times before they appear at the top. Close's five appearances are an unusually clear illustration of the pattern: the competition rewards the child who keeps coming back more reliably than it rewards the one who arrives brilliant and unprepared.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kerry Close | United States | Won the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Arvind Mahankali | United States | Won the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Sriram Hathwar | United States | Co-champion of the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Hugh Tosteson García | Puerto Rico (United States) | National Spelling Bee champion 1975 | Age 14 |
| Roy Seligman | Bahamas | First speller from the Bahamas to reach the Scripps National Spelling Bee… | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Won the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 with 'Ursprache' (NYT, AP/NBC, UPI, Scripps)
- First female champion since 1999 and first New Jersey winner since 1971
- Works in public relations as Kerry Close Guaragno; appeared in NPR's 2025 centenary coverage
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No source used here names her university or employer
- No IQ figure, birth date or family detail is published
- Little reporting exists on the years between 2006 and 2025
Questions people ask about Kerry Close
What word did Kerry Close win the spelling bee with?
'Ursprache', a German term for a reconstructed ancestral language, at the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
How old was Kerry Close when she won?
Thirteen. She was born in 1993 and won in June 2006 as an eighth-grader from Spring Lake, New Jersey.
How many times did she compete?
The 2006 title came on her fifth appearance at the national finals.
What records did her win break?
She was the first female champion since 1999 and the first winner from New Jersey since 1971.
Where is Kerry Close now?
She works in public relations and goes by Kerry Close Guaragno. She appeared in NPR's 2025 coverage of the bee's centenary as a past champion.
Is her real name Katharine or Kerry?
Both. Scripps announced the win under Katharine Close; she has been known as Kerry since childhood.
Is Kerry Close on Wikipedia?
She does not have a standalone Wikipedia article. Her win is recorded in Wikipedia's list of Scripps National Spelling Bee champions.
What is Kerry Close's IQ?
No IQ figure for her appears in any source used here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Kerry’s story?
Which word won Kerry Close the 2006 bee?
How many times had she reached the national finals before winning?
What does she do now?
Sources
- For New Jersey 8th Grader, 'Ursprache' Means Fame — The New York Times, 2006-06-03
- New Jersey Girl wins National Spelling Bee — NBC News (AP), 2006-06-02
- New Jersey girl is champion speller — UPI, 2006-06-02
- Top U.S. speller is queen of the bee — Deseret News, 2006-06-02
- Katharine Close Wins The 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee — E.W. Scripps Company, 2006-06
- As the Scripps bee turns 100, a new champion is crowned while past winners reflect — NPR, 2025-05-29
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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