A 14yr old schoolboy from London was crowned the best young Scrabble player in the world in Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Jack Durand, who attends City of London School, won 20 of his 24 games against children from across the world to become the first British player ever to win the World Youth Scrabble Championship. Durand was so dominant in the tournament that he was deemed the winner with two games still left to play, having gained an insurmountable lead over more than 120 fellow young competitors.

Jack Durand's winning words included NEINEI (a New Zealand shrub), ASTONED (an archaic form of 'astonished') and WOURALI (a poisonous plant extract), as well as MISTINGS across two triple-word scores for a whopping 122pts in one turn. Speaking after receiving the trophy and $1,000 first prize, the young wordsmith said he was "unbelievably happy" but had no ideas for how to spend the money just yet.

The World Youth Championship is now in its ninth year and this time attracted players as young as six years old. Competitors all played 24 games of Scrabble using one agreed international word list and strict time limits of 25 minutes per player.

Scrabble was the best-selling board game in the UK last year and has seen a recent resurgence in popularity as millions have taken to playing the game on their smartphones and tablets. Scrabble is played in more than 250 schools across the UK and the recent UK Youth Championship in Reading was the largest of its kind. Teachers are increasingly seeing the benefits of using the game to enhance literacy and teach spelling in a fun environment, while in Thailand and Nigeria governments have incorporated Scrabble into the national curriculum.

The Association of British Scrabble Players oversees all competitive play in the UK. Youth Development Officer Lynne Riley can be contacted by email on schools@absp.org.uk or on 07796 464787 at any time.