The best spellers in a 26-county region surrounding Topeka, Kansas, competed in the 65th annual regional spelling bee. Abrar Nasser, an eighth-grader at Susan B. Anthony Middle School, correctly spelled "silica." The event, sponsored by the Kansas Press Association, included 250 words and lasted 27 rounds.
In just the fifth grade, Alesya Rathinasamy already has three years of experience competing in the WIPB-TV Regional Spelling Bee. After second and third place finishes, this year she took the top prize. The Burris Laboratory School student lasted 40 rounds against students representing 60 area schools.
Genoa-Kingston Middle School eighth-grade student Bryanna Sonntag had all the right words in her study preparation, including her winning word, "repertoire." As many kids do, the DeKalb County Spelling Bee champion made some tough choices to find time for studying. Her mom said she didn’t audition for theater activities as usual, and instead studied spelling and vocabulary.
Champion is once again spelled "G-r-i-m-a-l-d-o" after another rousing Inland Northwest Regional Spelling Bee in Lewiston, Idaho. Julia Grimaldo, a seventh-grader from Orofino Junior-Senior High School, repeated as the winner at the competition, which Lewis-Clark State College hosted. Julia carries on the family tradition set by her older sisters, Anna and Frances Grimaldo.
Her placard number turned out to be Paula Braun's final ranking — No. 1. The eighth-grader from Seton Catholic School in Peosta, Iowa, won the Telegraph Herald Spelling Bee with her final two words: "leprotic" and "silica." Her sister placed third in the competition which involved 27 students from the Dubuque area.
Aritra Banerjee, a fifth-grader at West Hill School in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, won the state spelling bee with the word "inevitability.” Aritra loves words and understands their importance. After winning, he told a local reporter, "Communication is one of the most important things in our world today.”
Angelina Holm, a sixth-grader from the Denver School of the Arts, trusted her knowledge of etymology to help her win the 78th Denver Post Colorado State Spelling Bee. The tournament went 40 rounds and the winning word was "helminthiasis." Angelina's strategy — “I just try to break down where a word comes from and how it is used.”
Erin Howard, a seventh-grader at Mountain Gap School in Huntsville, Alabama, is making her third trip to the national finals. She won the 91st Annual Alabama Spelling Bee, sponsored by Adventure Travel. She is such a believer in the benefits of the program that she presented information to the school board encouraging more students to participate.
Jonnen Messer withstood a grueling four-hour contest with 38 rounds of words to win the 35th annual European PTA Spelling Bee. His last two winning words were "stalactite" and "Istanbul." The fifth-grader at Ramstein Intermediate School at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, surprised himself in earlier rounds by correctly spelling some tricky words.
Simran Patibanda, an eighth-grader from Graham Park Middle School in Triangle, Virginia, is headed to the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the second time in three years. After finishing as runner-up last year, she worked hard to regain the top spot. She spelled “inter alia” to seal her victory at the 40th annual Prince William Regional Spelling Bee.