Snigdha Nadipati from San Diego, Calif., wins Scripps National Spelling Bee
Spelling Bee contestant Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, Calif., tries to spell her word during the round 4 of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Md., on May 31, 2012.
Snigdha Nadipati, 14, from San Diego, Calif., has won the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee, MSNBC reported.
Her winning word: “guetapens,” which means “an ambush, snare or trap,” MSNBC reported.
Stuti Mishra of West Melbourne, Fla., finished second after messing up on the word "schwarmerei,” the Associated Press reported.
Snigdha is the fifth Indian American in a row to become the Scripps spelling bee champion and the 10th to win the competition in the last 14 years, the AP reported.
Snigdha said she prepared for the contest by studying 10 to 12 hours on weekends and six hours on weekdays, MSNBC reported. She used a computer program her father wrote to help her study.
A notably calm competitor throughout the night, Snigdha plans to become a psychiatrist or neurosurgeon, the AP reported.
Prizes she’s taking home with her include $30,000 in cash, a $2,500 US savings bond, a $5,000 scholarship, $2,600 worth of reference works from the Encyclopedia Britannica and an online language course, according to the AP.
Nine contestants made it to the televised final round of the three-day competition held Thursday night, the Washington Post reported. One of the finalists was 12 – last year’s third-place finisher, Arvind Mahankali of Bayside Hills, NY. The rest were 14: Snigdha; Stuti; Frank Cahill of Parker, Colo.; Gifton Wright of Spanish Town, Jamaica; Jordan Hoffman of Lee’s Summit, Mo.; Emma Ciereszynski of Dover, NH; Nicholas Rushlow of Pickerington, Ohio; and Lena Greenberg of Philadelphia.
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