9-year-old Anna beats 25,000 primary school kids to win the 2016 UK BANANAGRAMS Challenge

I came here today for a fun day out, not thinking I would win, but I did and it’s amazing!

Seeing off stiff competition in a tense and nerve-wracking word game grand final at London’s Magic Circle on Saturday (30 April), nine-year-old Anna Bauss from North London, has beaten 25,000 other children to be crowned Top Banana at the 2016 BANANAGRAMS Challenge.

The youngest of the 12 finalists, Anna who attends Rhodes Avenue Primary School, sailed through three rounds of the addictive anagram game, BANANAGRAMS, before taking to the main theatre stage in a nail-biting last game against two other children.

“It feels really exciting, I actually can’t believe it!” Said Anna, as she accepted her specially-designed Top Banana trophy and a £1,000 cheque for her school from the game’s inventor, Rena Nathanson. “I came here today for a fun day out, not thinking I would win, but I did and it’s amazing! I’d never played the game before my school started running the BANANAGRAMS Challenge at lunchtimes but I really love it and I prepared for the final by learning lots of two-letter words. All my friends have been really supportive, and I can’t wait to get back to school to tell them all about it.”

The BANANAGRAMS Challenge is a tournament for primary schools, which sees children from Key Stage 2 compete at BANANAGRAMS – a seriously challenging yet fun anagram game which combines speed, intellect and vocabulary skills. Once each school finds its ‘Best of the Bunch’, that child heads to an online elimination round where the final 12 is decided through a series of different word games. This year, it attracted 750 schools across the country and also took place in the United States for the first time, with the US winner being crowned last month in Rhode Island. The Challenge is soon to be replicated in other territories including Australia.

BANANAGRAMS’ inventor, Rena Nathanson, who took part in a live Q&A session hosted by Deej Johnson, author of the Collins Little Book of BANANAGRAMS, at the final said, “For someone so young, and who’s only been playing BANANAGRAMS for such a short period of time, Anna is quite the expert! She’s definitely been doing her homework and played some great words in her final winning grid. It’s hard to believe she’s only nine!

“I’m thrilled with how the BANANAGRAMS Challenge continues to gather momentum and it’s exciting to see it being rolled out to other countries around the world now too. Our objective is to get more kids playing BANANAGRAMS in the classroom, using it as a fun tool to help their understanding of words and language. Registration for the 2017 Challenge is open now and we can’t wait to see more young children going wild with words next year!”

Visit www.bananagramschallenge.co.uk for further information about The BANANAGRAMS Challenge.

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Media enquiries:
High res photography of the live Grand Final is available – for further images, information about the BANANAGRAMS Challenge, BANANAGRAMS or to interview Anna Bauss or the game’s inventor, Rena Nathanson, please contact:
Alex Frith or Lesley Singleton at Playtime PR Ltd
Alex@PlaytimePR.com - 07791 592 011
Lesley@PlaytimePR.com - 01908 299 088

About BANANAGRAMS
BANANAGRAMS (RRP £14.99 ages 7-107) is the anagram game that drives you bananas! Requiring no pencil, paper or board, BANANAGRAMS comes in a small portable banana-shaped pouch and is perfect fun for all the family, at home or on the go. Created by a word game-obsessed family of three generations, BANANAGRAMS is a labour of love that has quickly become an international phenomenon and firm favourite with celebrities including the cast of ITV’s Downton Abbey, Dame Judi Dench, Scarlett Johansson, Caroline Flack and Matt Edmondson. It’s now sold more than 7million copies worldwide. How to play video: https://youtu.be/lIC6hH_GxUA

For more information visit: www.bananagrams.com
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