Forty-one of the Beehive State's super spellers - the best of the best from district competition - will vie for the Utah championship Friday in Salt Lake City.
Public, private and parochial district winners will compete in the Deseret News Spelling Bee for the state title and a ticket to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.This summit conference on words, the culmination of a year-long spelling improvement program, is sponsored in cooperation with the State Office of Education, State PTA and Utah Education Association.
The competition begins at 9 a.m. at Bryant Intermediate School, 40 S. 800 East.
Thousands of Utah students in fourth through eighth grades, including home-study youngsters, received a list of 500 words to study last fall. Nationally, an estimated 9 million students competed.
Utah public school districts, the Catholic Office of Education and Lutheran schools conducted preliminary competition, while private schools and those in home study held a district bee to select a representative.
In addition, a trophy, the state winner and one parent will be guests of the Deseret News in the nation's capital May 30 to June 5.
Spellers from the United States and its territories as well as those of military and government personnel will compete in the 66th annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.
Last year's state winner, Stacy Matsumura, 14, an eighth-grade student at Bennion Junior High School, Kearns, was eliminated during the second day of national competition. She misspelled the word "exultation" as "exaltation" after correctly spelling "cruciferous," "polychrest" and "biennially" during the first three rounds.
When this year's Utah delegate competes nationally, he or she will be No. 151 in a field of 237 spellers, a record number with 10 more than last year.
The state's second-place winner will receive a trophy and a 32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica.
A trophy and The Random House Dictionary of the English Language will be awarded to the third-place winner. It is the first completely new unabridged dictionary published in 25 years and contains 315,000 entries.
Fourth prize is Websters's 9th New Collegiate Dictionary, containing 200,000 definitions, 25,000 new words and 3,000 illustrations. Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus will be awarded to the fifth-place winner. Both are from Merriam-Webster Inc.
A special spelling bee edition of the 1993 World Almanac will be presented to the sixth-place winner.
The following are district winners, their age, school, grade, city and the number they were assigned through random selection:
1. Jessica Chudleigh, 13, Treasure Mountain, eighth grade, Park City; 2. Emily Moser, 13, Panguitch Middle School, seventh grade, Panguitch; 3. Mandy Stanford, 13, North Summit Middle School, seventh grade, Coalville; 4. Angela Olsen, 12, Morgan Middle School, sixth grade, Morgan; 5. Tara Fitzgerald, 10, Helen M. Knight School fifth grade, Moab; 6. Kristin Jackson, 11, Hanksville fifth grade, Caineville; 7. Christopher Jones, 11, Delta Middle School, fifth grade, Delta; 8. Scott Crandall, 12, Ivy Hall Academy, seventh grade, Provo; 9. Michael Gosling, 12, Clayton Intermediate School, seventh grade, Salt Lake City; 10. Aimee Pierce, 13, Dixie Middle School, eighth grade, St. George.
11. Marianne Myers, 12, Horizon Elementary, sixth grade, Murray; 12. Ben Smith, 13, Rich Junior High, eighth grade, Randolph; 13. Jacqueline Morrill, 10, Neola Elementary School, fifth grade, Neola; 14. Mei Li Inouye, 13, Gunnison Elementary, seventh grade, Gunnison; 15. Jodi Sweeda, 10, East Elementary, fourth grade, Tooele; 16. Carol Carter, 14, Oquirrh Hills Middle School, eighth grade, Riverton; 17. Anne Harvey, 13, Jefferson Junior High, seventh grade, Kearns; 18. Brent Goodwine, 14, Monticello High, eighth grade, Monticello; 19. Jake Robinson, 13, Kanab Middle School, seventh grade, Kanab; 20. Daniel Briggs, 13, Syracuse Junior High, seventh grade, Syracuse.
21. Lindsay Blackwell, 11, Oscarson Elementary, sixth grade, Marysvale; 22. Monica Hills, 14, Wasatch Junior High, eighth grade, Salt Lake City; 23. Jana Clayson, 13, Spanish Fork Intermediate, seventh grade, Salem; 24. Amanda McDonald, 12, West Desert School, seventh grade, Trout Creek; 25. Madeline Armendariz, 11, J. R. Smith, fifth grade, Heber City; 26. Natalie Nelson, 13, Milford Junior, seventh grade, Milford; 27. Jessie Potter, 12, Castle Dale Elementary, sixth grade, Castle Dale; 28. Tyler Hokanson, 15, Dixon Middle School, eighth grade, Provo; 29. John Chiara, 13, Helper Junior High, eighth grade, Helper; 30. Tierney Steffensen, 14, Crescent View Middle School, eighth grade, Sandy.
31. Jamie Cook, 14, Juab Middle School, eighth grade, Nephi; 32. Jess Krannich, 13, Mount Logan School, seventh grade, Paradise; 33. Ladd Udy, 10, McKinley Elementary, fifth grade, Tremonton; 34. Rachelle Lewis, 13, Canyon View Junior High, eighth grade, Orem; 35. Tony Arnold, 13, St. Paul's Lutheran School, eighth grade, Ogden; 36. Stefni Jo Ross, 14, Vernal Junior, eighth grade, Vernal; 37. Angela Downs, 12, St. Francis Xavier School, seventh grade, West Jordan; 38. Colby Harrison, 12, North Sevier School, seventh grade, Aurora; 39. Kristana Miskin, 13, North Cache Junior High, eighth grade, Smithfield; 40. George Shepherd, 12, Moroni Middle School, seventh grade, Fountain Green; and 41. Gina Anderson, 13, South Summit Middle School, eighth grade.