WASHINGTON — No theatrical flourishes for Anamika Veeramani. She kept her hands behind her back and rattled off the letters of every word she was given — until she was crowned the spelling bee champion.
The 14-year-old girl from North Royalton, Ohio, won the 83rd Scripps National Spelling Bee on Friday, acing the medical word “stromuhr” to claim the winner’s trophy and more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.
Anamika became the third consecutive Indian-American bee champion, and the eighth in the past 12 years.
Anamika was one of the favorites among the 273 spellers who began the three-day competition, having tied for fifth last year. She stood deadpan while the audience cheered, not cracking a smile until the trophy was presented.
There was a three-way tie for second. Adrian Gunawan, 14, of Arlington Heights, Ill.; Elizabeth Platz, 13, of Shelbina, Mo.; and Shantanu Srivatsa, 13, of West Fargo, N.D., were all eliminated in the same round.
Anamika survived the round by spelling “juvia” — a Brazil nut.
Two Colorado contestants were eliminated in the semi-finals. Brian King, from Colorado Springs and sponsored by The Denver Post, misspelled “caprifig” in the fifth round. David Phan, from Longmont and sponsored by the Daily Camera, misspelled “bilophodont” in the fourth round.
The finals were preceded by an unpopular move. Concerned that there wouldn’t be enough spellers left to fill the two-hour slot on ABC, organizers stopped the semifinals in the middle of a round Friday and declared that the 10 spellers onstage would advance to the prime-time broadcast. They included six who didn’t have to spell in the interrupted round.
There were 19 spellers left at the start of the round, which was too many for prime time. But when the round turned out to be brutal — nine of the first 13 misspelled — ABC was close to having too few.
