“I was really nervous in the beginning,” she said afterwards, admitting as the bee continued “I was getting more nervous.”

Dennis was one of just four spellers left after the first two rounds, but correctly spelled “hollyhock,” then “combustible” and “emblazoned” before standing alone in the sixth round to correctly spell “homage.”

She was joined by first runner-up Savannah Figley, an East Palestine seventh grader, who misspelled “contrariwise” in the fifth round after correctly spelling “protectorate” and “besieged.”

Second runner-up Garrett Finsley, a Columbiana sixth grader, missed on “geocaching” in the fourth round after correctly spelling “mantra.”

The 63rd annual Columbiana County Spelling Bee is co-sponsored by the Columbiana County Educational Service Center and the three county newspapers, the Salem News, the Lisbon Morning Journal and the The (East Liverpool) Review. Publisher Tammie McIntosh, who attended the bee, congratulated the winners.

As champion, Dennis advances to represent the county in the Scripps National Spelling Bee the week of Memorial Day at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. Besides the all-expense paid trip donated by the Morning Journal, Salem News, and The Review, she also won: a first place plaque; Samuel L. Sugarman Award, a 2022 United States Mint Proof Set donated by Jay Sugarman; a One Year Subscription to Britannica Online Premium donated by Encyclopedia Britannica; and a One Year Subscription to Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Online Dictionary donated by Merriam-Webster.

As first runner-up, Figley, the daughter of Erin Figley, won the first runner-up plaque and a Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition donated by Merriam-Webster. As second runner-up, Finsley, son of Marty and Heather Finsley, won the second runner-up plaque.

Dennis, the daughter of Dave and Amanda Dennis, studied the words in the Words of Champions list and said “my parents and my younger brother helped me some,” along with her band director Matt Newman. She’s never been to Washington, D.C. before and just wants to go to the national bee.

“I’m excited just to be there,” she said.

She participated in last year’s online county bee. Her parents said the whole family will go on the trip this year, including her two younger brothers.

“I think it’s awesome. She worked very, very hard,” mom Amanda said, with dad Dave adding, “very proud.”

Both Figley and Finsley said they studied a bunch. Figley’s mom, Erin, said she was very proud. She was surprised when she won the school bee. Finsley’s mom, Heather, said “I’m pretty impressed. That’s pretty awesome.”

ESC Literacy Consultant Lisa Mistovich served as the new pronouncer this year, indicating she studied the words, too, and also had an audio file to listen to how the words were pronounced. She practiced reading the words aloud to anybody who would listen. She was excited.

County Spelling Bee Coordinator Marie Williams, ESC Director of Teaching and Learning and Language Arts Consultant, said they were happy to have a live final. The online semi-final consisted of 46 students from area schools who had won or placed at their school bee. They had to spell 30 words in 35 minutes. The number for the in-person final bee was 23, but two of the spellers were unable to be there, so 21 competed.

“We are extremely proud of all the semi-finalists and finalists,” Williams said, noting “the spellers had some really difficult words to spell.”

She said it showed a lot of dedication on the part of the students and “you could tell a lot of them really dived in.” They had a list of 4,000 words to study.

Spellers could request their word be used in a sentence, get a definition, origin or alternate pronunciation. Williams said six of the spellers from last year had returned, including the 2021 county spelling champion Sarah Thompson, a seventh grader from Lisbon.

Beaver Local will receive a plaque as the school of the new champion.

Judges for the event included county library directors Melissa Percic, East Liverpool Carnegie Public Library, Kathy Bennett, Columbiana Public Library, and Brad Stephens, Salem Public Library.

mgreier@salemnews.net