Ananya Vinay Wins The 2017 U.S. Scripps National Spelling Bee She correctly spelled the word marocain, a dress fabric made of warp of silk or rayon and a filling of other yarns.

OXON HILL, Md. (Reuters) - Ananya Vinay of Fresno, California won the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, taking home a $40,000 cash prize after 

Anaya Vinay

12 hours of picking her way along a precarious lifeline of consonants and vowels.

Vinay, 12, correctly spelled the word marocain, a dress fabric made of warp of silk or rayon and a filling of other yarns, to win the spelling bee held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in suburban Washington.

She said she felt “amazing” after defeating Rohan Rajeev, 14, of Edmond Oklahoma during the stirring 25-word championship round. “It was just fun to see how far it would go,” Vinay said.

The two determined spellers went back and forth for about 45 minutes, peeling off word after word in tense competition of spelling prowess.

Cheirotompholyx, durchkomponiert and tchefuncte were among the words the two spelled correctly during the round. In the end, Rajeev misspelled the word marram before Vinay spelled two words correctly to win the bee.

Vinay plans to split the money with her 7-year-old brother and put it in to her college account. “She had a deep passion for reading. The biggest thing that she wants to do is sit and read,” her father Vinay Sreekumar said.