Divide and conquer was the strategy for Jay Schoenen, a seventh-grader from Gov. Mifflin Middle School in Reading, Pennsylvania. To prepare, he studied a different language of origin each night. And when he misspelled, his brother offered his own form of motivation by throwing things at him. Jay spelled "dismissive" to become champion at the 38th annual Berks County Spelling Bee.

Photo credit: Jeremy Drey, Reading Eagle