"Leechcraft" wasn't a word she knew, but that didn't stop Stephanie Lewis, an eighth-grader from Marrs Magnet Center in Omaha, Nebraska, from spelling it correctly to win the Midwest Spelling Bee and a trip to the national finals. This was her first appearance in the regional event. She thanked her father for coaching her for the past several weeks.

Photo credit: Chris Machian, The Omaha World-Herald