Ananya Vinay wins National Spelling Bee

Ananya Vinay never looked all that impressed by any of the words she was given in the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The 12-year-old from Fresno, California, showed little emotion and didn’t take much time as she plowed through word after word. Sometimes she would blurt out questions, with little intonation “Part of speech?” “Language of origin?” and sometimes she didn’t even bother.

Unflappable to the end, Ananya seized the opportunity when her steely opponent, Rohan Rajeev, flubbed a simple-looking but obscure Scandinavian-derived word, “marram,” which means a beach grass. She calmly nailed two words in a row, ending on “marocain,” which means a type of dress fabric of ribbed crepe, to win the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday.

“I knew them all,” Ananya said.

Ananya barely cracked a smile even when her parents and younger brother stormed onto the stage to embrace her as the confetti fell. And she took time to console Rohan, who remained in his seat, wiping tears from his eyes.

“It’s like a dream come true,” Ananya said. “I’m so happy right now.”

Later, she flashed a broad and toothy grin as she lingered on stage accepting congratulations. She will take home more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.