The National Spelling Bee is back and in full swing after last year's part in-person, part virtual competition because of the pandemic.

This is a tradition that goes back almost a century, and a lot has changed in that time.

The Bee has been around since 1925. Back then, nine newspapers got together to sponsor the first event. The first winner was an 11-year-old from Kentucky who spelled the word "gladiolus" correctly. He knew the word because he had raised the flower back home and won $500 worth of gold pieces as an award.

Nowadays, the semifinalists get a $500 gift card. The finalists get a few thousand dollars. The champion gets $50,000, the trophy, more money and a reference library from Merriam-Webster, and more gifts from Encyclopædia Britannica, including a 1768 Replica Set.

There have been a few times when the Bee did not buzz.

From 1943 to 1945, there was no Bee because of World War II, and it was canceled in 2020 when the pandemic first began.

In 2019, the Bee had to deal with an 8-way tie because the judges quite literally ran out of words.

Since then, the Bee has added a lightning round. If there are still multiple spellers left standing by the final round, they'll be given 90 seconds to spell out as many words as possible from a prepared list. Whoever spells the most words correctly wins.

After a yearlong hiatus because of the pandemic, the Bee returned last year with another first: Zaila Avant-Garde became the first Black American to be crowned winner of the Bee. She won in round 18 for spelling the word “Murraya” right. In case you were wondering, it’s a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves and flowers with imbricated petals.

So, it’s a plant, but Zaila was picturing something different when she won.

“Bill Murray’s face," Avant-Garde said. "I just got 'Murraya' and I just thought of his face, and it was so funny to me."

Millions of kids fight for the chance to make it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year, it began with 234. By the end of day one, 88 spellers remained.

The first few rounds consist of oral competition and one round of multiple-choice word meaning. As it turns out, it’s not just spelling.

An incorrect answer in any of those rounds will get you an automatic elimination — and a ding.

The Bee has become more than just a competition. Today, it is live-streamed and tweeted about, which is very different than when it first started. Now, it's a national spectacle.

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Zaila Avant-garde has already made history as the first African American winner of the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee, and now one university is offering her a full ride.

Louisiana State University president William F. Tate IV tweeted Saturday that Avant-garde's academic performance reflected scholarship first and modeled intellectual excellence. He offered her a full scholarship to LSU.

The eighth-grader from Louisiana spelled the word murraya correctly to win the Bee.

Besides her academic success, the Associated Press reported the 14-year-old is a basketball prodigy who holds three Guinness World Records for dribbling multiple balls simultaneously.

Michelle Kaufman at WRTV first reported this story.

Do you ever watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee and think maybe you should have paid more attention in English class?

Well, you can expect more of that feeling with the event making a major change.

It will now test competitors on their vocab skills and there will be a lightning speed round if there's a tie at the end.

Spellers will get 90 seconds to knock out as many words as they can correctly.

The change would prevent ties like we've seen in recent years.

We do want to note Newsy is a part of the E.W. Scripps Company, which runs the Scripps National Spelling Bee on a not-for-profit basis.

This story was originally published by Simon Kaufman at Newsy.

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