May 31 (Bloomberg) -- Sameer Mishra, a 13-year-old from Indiana, won the annual U.S. spelling bee late yesterday, beating out other top students who grappled with strange and arcane polysyllabic words.

Sameer, who also garnered some of the biggest laughs with his witty replies to questions, beat out other finalists at last night's nationally televised competition with his precise spelling of ``guerdon,'' which means ``a reward.''

The event, the 81st annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, wrapped up after 10 p.m. local time after semifinals that began at 11 a.m.

Sameer won $30,000 in cash and other prizes at the competition, sponsored by E.W. Scripps Co., the Cincinnati-based broadcaster and newspaper publisher. He bested the remainder of the 288 children participating in the contest over two days from the U.S. and its territories, as well as countries including Canada, Ghana and South Korea.

``My parents have been telling me since the beginning to stay cool, calm and collected,'' Sameer, a bespectacled eighth- grader who attends West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School, told reporters after the event. He was coached by his older sister Shruti, a former spelling bee contestant. She wept when her brother claimed the title.

Witty Winner

The champion's winning performance was matched by a dry wit that often delighted the audience. In round 9, he was asked to spell ``numnah,'' a word that describes the felt pad cut to the shape of a saddle and used as protection for horse's back.

The term also rhymes with a barnyard vulgarity used to describe someone with less-than-stellar intelligence.

After asking the announcer for a restatement, Sameer sighed and said, ``That's a relief.''

Sidharth Chand, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, came in second. The 12-year-old seventh-grader lost the competition when he misspelled ``prosopopoeia'' in round 15 at the Grand Hyatt in Washington. The finals were broadcast by Walt Disney Co.'s ABC television and emceed by ``Dancing with the Stars'' and ``America's Funniest Home Videos'' host Tom Bergeron.

In true sportsmanlike fashion, those who seemed to draw the biggest cheers from the full-house crowd of parents, children and well-wishers were the ones eliminated from the competition.

Cheers and Tears

The cheers took on an especially high pitch when Kavya Shivashankar, 12, buried her head in her father's shoulder on stage after she flubbed ``écrasé.'' The seventh-grader from Olathe, Kansas, tied for fourth place after tying for 10th place in 2006 and 8th place last year.

Even louder shouts and applause greeted 13-year-old Tia Thomas, of Coarsegold, California, the third-place contestant who went up against Sameer and Sidharth until she was felled by ``opificer'' in round 13.

Since 1925, 84 students have captured the contest's highest honor, with winners evenly distributed between girls and boys, 43 to 41. Scripps Co.'s Scripps Howard News Service began its sponsorship of the contest in 1941.

Individual contestants are sponsored by local newspapers, mostly in the U.S. The competition is open to students age 15 or younger who haven't passed beyond the eighth grade.

A majority of the spellers this year, 230, cited family or friends as their coaches. All of the finalists came from the U.S., with the highest distribution from Midwestern states, including Kansas, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio.

Girls also outnumbered boys as participants this year, according to contest officials.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joi Preciphs in Washington at jpreciphs1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 31, 2008 00:56 EDT