Only time will tell, as last year’s county champ Maureen Bone advanced to the 2026 event with a win in Thursday’s district contest to represent her school again. 

Bone successfully spelled “asphalt” for the victory, topping sixth-grader Gabrielle Bell, who misspelled “khaki.”

Fifth-grade student Jennifer Lin as well as sixth-graders Ryker Mattern and Samantha Williams also finished among the top five district spellers.

They all advance to county.

Beaver Local eight-grader Maureen Bone correctly spells “asphalt” Thursday morning to win the district’s spelling bee and advance to the Columbiana County Spelling Bee, which she won last year. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

As an eighth-grader, this is Bone’s last year to compete. Despite not winning her district bee last year, placement in Beaver Local’s top five was enough to get Bone to county, where she outspelled the field to advance, according to district coordinator Matthew Newman.

This will be Bone’s third county bee appearance but only her first as district champ.

After a brief hiatus in 2024 with Salem, which had won the county bee, the county championship had returned to the Beavers last year courtesy of Bone. 

Beaver Local also had a two-time county bee winner in Shaylynn Dennis for years 2022 and 2023. Dennis was the district bee pronouncer for this year, which included competitors from all four grades ar Beaver Local Middle School.

To learn more about the national spelling bee, visit spelling bee.com.

A popular bee tool here is used by Beaver Local Middle School sixth-grade student Samantha Williams, at left, as she traced a difficult-to-spell word on her left wrist like she is writing it during the district bee Thursday, as fifth-grade competitor Jennifer Lin looks on. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

The Columbiana County Spelling Bee is sponsored by the Columbiana County Newspapers, which consists of the (Lisbon) Morning Journal, The (East Liverpool) Review and Salem News. 

Clockwise from left, Beaver Local Middle School eighth-grader Madison Bone (18) and fifth-grader Wyatt Buchheit (19), as sixth-grader Samantha Williams awaits her next turn in her seat. Bone, who was the 2025 Columbiana County spelling bee champion, won to advance for an attempted two-peat in 2026. Williams finished in the top five. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

Beaver Local sixth-grader Brinley Ross sits patiently waiting for her turn to spell Thursday at the district’s qualifier for the Columbiana County spelling bee. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

From left, contestants Caden Ferringer (2, fifth-grade), Jon Jenkins (23, sixth-grade) and Mia Almy, (13, sixth-grade) look on Thursday as their fellow spellers have their turns at the microphone during the Beaver Local district spelling bee. All three are middle school students. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

Trevor Ridzon, a seventh-grade student at Beaver Local Middle School, expresses his frustration after misspelling his word in round five of the district qualifier held Thursday morning. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

Sixth-grade student Aidden Hoffman (14) and seventh-grade student Mark Zachariah (15) patiently wait for the first row of spellers to complete their initial round of competition during the Beaver Local Middle School’s district qualifying spelling bee held Thursday morning. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)