It took 16 words for Brendan Pawlicki, a sixth-grader at St. Lawrence Elementary School in Utica, Michigan, to spell his way to a return trip to the national finals.  He won on the word, “einkorn,” a type of wheat. When standing at the microphone, he would shake his hands, appearing nervous. However, Brendan said afterward it wasn't nerves; the hand shaking was “me being happy.” 

Photo credit: David Dalton, Macomb Daily News