While participants from 50 US states, US territories from Puerto Rico to Guam, and several countries, from Jamaica to Japan stumbled in the Scripps National Spelling Bee contest, Indian American Ananya Vinay of Fresno bagged the prestigious award with a cash prize of $40,000.
After twelve hours of a tough fight, with other spellings, the last word that elevated her into this milestone was 'marocain', a dress fabric made of warp of silk or rayon and a filling of other yarns.
The 25-word championship round of the spelling bee was conducted at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in suburban Washington.
"It's like a dream come true. I am so happy right now," she told ESPN after the competition.
The age group of participants in the Spell Bee contest ranged from 6 to 15 from early spelling bees involving more than 11 million youths.
Some of the tough words that participants struggled to spell in 90th National Spelling Bee were:
"What?!" exclaimed Maggie Sheridan, 13, from Mansfield, Ohio, throwing her hands up in disbelief when she learned she correctly spelled whirlicote, a type of luxurious carriage, with one second to spare. However, she was out by the word saccharomycete, a yeast fungus, and fell out of the competition.
Marlene Schaff, 14, misspelled cleidoic, that means to be enclosed in a relatively impervious shell, like an egg.
"I'm disappointed because I was debating between two spellings," said Schaff of Lake Forest, Illinois.