Queen of the Bee
Fourteen-year-old Anamika Veeramani wins the 83rd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee
By Andrea Delbanco
Stromuhr. Most people don't know what the medical word means, or how to pronounce it. But Anamika Veeramani, a 14-year-old from North Royalton, Ohio, knew how to spell it. The challenging word won Anamika a trophy and more than $40,000 in cash and prizes at the 83rd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on Friday. Three spellers tied for second place.
A total of 273 spellers took part in the three-day competition, held in Washington, D.C. Contestants ranged in age from 8 to 15. The final rounds aired on ABC on Friday night.
V-I-C-T-O-R-Y
Anamika tied for fifth place at the Scripps Bee in 2009 and was one of the favorites at the competition this year. Anamika sat through a tense commercial break before she got the chance to spell the winning word. She kept her cool, standing still with her hands behind her back, waiting to smile until the trophy was presented to her. "I usually have a poker face," says Anamika. But she admits the spelling was stressful, and winning was surreal. "It was just really nerve-wracking," she said. "The commercial breaks didn't really help."
"This has been her dream for a very, very long time," says Anamika's father, Alagaiya Veeramani. He says his daughter studied spelling for as much as 16 hours on some days. Now, having won the top spot at Scripps, Anamika can no longer spell competitively. "I've been doing spelling for such a long time," Anamika says. "It's kind of sad." She says she wants to spend more time golfing, dancing and writing.
A Winning Streak
Anamika is the third Indian-American champion in a row. Although Indian-Americans make up less than one percent of the population of the United States, they have an impressive winning streak at spelling bees. Indian-Americans have won the top spot at Scripps in eight of the last 12 years.
"All of the past champions inspire me," Anamika says. "They're all amazing people."
Max-Spelling Bee is a great game to play, and tests players’ word spelling. This game may have a race, or you can play it yourself. Spelling Bee is one of those popular contests, and many kids to teens join the race. Spelling contests have many rounds-from about a hundred or more contestants join the first round, to the final round with only a few contestants. This game is also exciting, but also gives stress to the contestants, because if they spell wrong one word, they’re out of the contest! So maybe the contest will be splendid to watch if this contains a lot of geniuses. I know Spelling Bee contests tests not only regular words, it also tests geography! But I know, Spelling Bee Geography tests are as hard as Spelling Bee. We may also want to know what questions it will ask. As Spelling Bee, they will ask words which can’t find in the dictionary. At Geography Spelling Bee, they would ask some peculiar places, seas or some spots. Also, a great prize will be awarded for the winner of Spelling Bee. Don’t just know the race is hard, the contestants may take a few months to practice, and sometimes can’t get the champion!
