A
packed house watched as a new Independent Spelling Bee champion was crowned.
Bill
Bjork, pastor at Grace Bible Church in Sun City, beat out 18 other contestants,
including last year’s champion Jack Hill, to claim the title. The contest, open
to Northwest Valley senior citizens, went down to Mr. Bjork and Patricia
Echoles before she misspelled Lackadaisical and he got the word correct.
The
event this year was hosted by Grace Bible Church, 19280 N. 99th Ave. But Mr. Bjork
was quick to point out the two were not connected.
“I
assure you, there is no fix,” he said when the field had been trimmed to four
participants.
Both
the champion and runner-up received a prize package including certificates for
meals at various restaurants, oil changes, Arizona Diamondback game tickets and
other items.
The
contestant field was the largest in the third annual event sponsored by
Independent Newsmedia, Inc. USA. It also drew the largest audience. The lively
support for the contestants included one woman who waved a cutout hand on a
stick with “Go, Jack, Go!” on both sides. When it was suggested future spelling
bees might include banners and even tailgating, she heartily agreed.
The
double elimination first round saw long periods where words were spelled
correctly punctuated by a word that stumped several contestants. The first
word, syllabus, was missed right away. Other words that stumped several
spellers were jeopardize, idiosyncrasy and annunciation. Seven straight
participants, including Mr. Hill and last year’s runner-up Phil English, were
tripped up by metonymy.
Contestants
were able to miss one word and still continue until they had missed a second,
at which point they were eliminated. Mr. Bjork and Ms. Echoles each had one
miss when the contest went into the final round featuring the final two
remaining spellers.
“Our
contestants and their supporters really seem to like this event, as it has
grown each year,” said Charlene Bisson, Independent publisher. “We are looking
forward to doing this again next year.”
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Graphics
Designer Chris Williams gives contestants their words to spell.
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Publisher
Charlene Bisson presents prizes to the spelling bee winners, Bill Bjork and
Patricia Echoles.
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