Anamika Veeramani

National Spelling Bee 2010 winner, Anamika Veeramani, says winning word was one 'I studied before' - According to the newly awarded Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion of 2010, 14-year-old Anamika Veeramani, of North Royalton, Ohio, winning the spelling bee took "a lot of hard work."  Asked whether she had studied the winning word, "stromuhr," before, she said, "Yeah; I had studied that word."  Ms. Veeramani won the 83rd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee Friday night at an event broadcast live on ABC television.

Ms. Veeramani beat out 272 other spellers from around the country and other countries such as Canada and Jamaica, to remain standing Friday night and claim the Championship trophy.  She admitted that during the competition in Washington, she had made a couple of "informed guesses" on words she wasn't positive she knew.  One of these was "epiphysis" and the other was "mirin," a kind of Japanese wine made from rice.

The Champion gave credit to her family and a teacher at school for their support.  She said her mother helped her with her words, and her younger brother, who is good at geography, helped her with geographic words.

Even though she has now met one of the goals of her life, Ms. Veeramani does not lack for goals for the future.  Asked what she would like to do, she said that she wants to write books in high school; get into Harvard; and be a cardiovascular surgeon.

Cool under pressure of not only the competition, but also of the lights and cameras and delays in the contest to allow for the live television feed to insert commercial time and features, it appears that this young person is well on her way to achieving her other life's goals as well.