WASHINGTON — One by one, seven Canadians stood up to test their prowess Friday at the Scripps National Spelling bee, only to hear the ding of a bell signalling they had made a mistake.

It was a major disappointment for the students, ranging in age from 10 to 14, who had hoped one of them would win the prestigious event. A Canadian had come second in each of the past two years.

WASHINGTON — As it turned out, Sameer Mishra provided more than just comic relief at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee. He ended up winning the title.

The 13-year-old from West Lafayette, Ind., who often had the audience laughing with his one-line commentaries was all business when he aced “guerdon” — a word that appropriately means “something that one has earned or gained” — to win the 81st version of the bee Friday night.

WASHINGTON -- All seven Canadian spellers who remained at the Scripps National Spelling Bee were eliminated from the competition this morning.

When Grace Tsai, of Vancouver, failed to spell the word "cinerea," inserting a "y" where the "i" should have been, it marked the end of the line for the Canadians.

Veronica Penny of Hamilton was eliminated on the word etagere, while Saskatoon's Anqi Dong was stumped by the word hooley.

He got “bockwurst” right during the preliminaries, but after a written test filled with words like “eidetic”, “cacoethes”, and “nonpareil”, Thunder Bay's Logan Turner didn't make it to the finals in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

"'Appaloosa' stumped me," the 11-year-old Agnew H. Johnston Public School student said Thursday from Washington. "I spelled it A-P-P-A-L-U-S-A. Another word I thought I had right was cygnet. I spelled it S-I-G-N-E-T-T-E."

By Katie Daubs
Canwest News Service
WASHINGTON — When the Canadian ambassador quizzed the country’s top spellers Tuesday, it only took one word to discover he was a bit of a rookie.

He started by asking 10-year-old Veronica Penny, Canada’s youngest competitor, to spell “conchology.”

Veronica, who hails from Hamilton, rocked back and forth on her heels.

“Can I by any chance have the definition?” she asked.

“It’s the study of shells,” Michael Wilson replied.

As Logan Turner sat in the hotel lobby with his bright red Canada shirt and fidgeted with his CanSpell-issued dog tags, it was pretty hard for the 11-year old speller to pinpoint the best thing about his trip to Washington, D.C.

“Just being here is really cool,” he said from his oversized chair.

The Grade 6 student at Thunder Bay’s Agnew H. Johnston Public School is one of 22 Canadian regional champs participating in the 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee this week in Washington.

A collection of headlines from around the country featuring Canada's CanSpell finalists in Washington.

Canadian spellers gird for battle in D.C. - Ottawa Sun (Photo of Logan Turner with article)

When in Rome, or Washington - thestar.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. — He spelled sarcophagus on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial. (“Sarcophagus? Phagus? Phagus.”)

He confirmed a few letters at the Capitol, where the next American president will be sworn in this January. (“Is that a K? C?”)

And every so often, Edmonton’s Austin Davis stopped to snap a few photos. But he was mostly spelling.

It was hard to ignore the looming Scripps National Spelling Bee on Monday as the spellers visited the Vietnam War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Capitol and the White House.

Washington — As 100,000 Harley-Davidsons roared through Washington, D.C., to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday, a smaller group of Canadians, notable for their lack of leather chaps, trickled into town for the 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee.

This year, 288 youth hope to be the last speller standing in the famed ballroom at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Most are from the United States — with a small showing from other places like Ghana, Guam and South Korea. Twenty-two are Canadian, including Thunder Bay’s own Logan Turner.

Study, study, study. That’s been the story of regional spelling bee champ Logan Turner’s life since January.

First for The Chronicle-Journal CanWest CanSpell Regional Spelling Bee in February, which he won when he spelled “parfait” correctly, then for the national bee held in Ottawa in April — where he was eliminated in the sixth round when the word “succotash” stumped him — and now for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, an international event being held in Washington D.C., starting today.