Not every ten-year-old gets to take their family off on holiday, but this year’s Spelldown champion Nasir Simmons plans to do just that in November.The St George’s Preparatory School year six student and basketball fan won the 2011 grand prize in the annual Island-wide spelling competition.He said: “We were planning to go see the Washington Wizards. They’re my favourite team. Winning the trip to Washington DC was just a coincidence. Getting the big prize felt fantastic.”Nasir won flights and accommodation for parents Jamahl and Sherri, plus older brother Stephen, after battling to the top out of 16 students from primary schools around the Island.At the Spelldown semi-finals, he came second after being stumped by the word “tonsorial” an obscure adjective relating to hairdressing but in the finals Nasir made it through “dissonance” and “whimsical” to victory.“You need all the words you can get,” he said. “I read the newspaper, magazines, and I read the dictionary.”Nasir also credits his mother for pushing him, and his teachers at St George’s Prep.Mrs Simmons said: “Coming from a public school, this really is a testimony to what a great public school system Bermuda has.“We’re so proud of him. In the first competition a couple of years ago, he came last, so he set out to redeem himself.”Added Mr Simmons: “I think the word was ‘revenge’.”“I want that stricken from the record,” Nasir said.The honour student, one of only two primary-age students at the Centre for Talented Youth, said he enjoys writing action-adventure and sports stories.“I like writing stories, but I prefer typing. I’m not a giant fan of writing. Sitting at the computer, ideas just come into my head.”He said his future plans are “three jobs at once, but not all at the same time.“I could go early to England and get my doctorate in medicine maybe even as early as age 21. Then I could go for the NBA (National Basketball Association). After that, I could go back to school, get a degree in political science, run for Parliament and then run for Premier.”In the meantime, he plans to take his second three-week summer course through Johns Hopkins University “either medicine, science or creative writing”.An avid reader, Nasir’s advice for better spelling is: “You just have to pay attention to the rules in books and dictionaries. I guess really it’s a matter of having a knack for words, but if you read a lot it’s naturally easier.”