The stage of the Bora Laskin Building’s theatre was transformed into a battlefield Saturday as 18 of the region’s top young spellers fought for supremacy at the first-ever Chronicle-Journal CanWest CanSpell Regional Spelling Bee.

Ten area schools participated in the bee, which is also held in 22 cities across Canada. Over 200,000 students from grades four to eight are expected to participate nationwide.

The prize for the local winner? In addition to an AIC $5000 RESP, a digital camera from Canada Post and a new laptop computer from The Chronicle-Journal, victory includes a trip to Ottawa to compete in the national final and then to Washington, D.C. for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, courtesy of Air Canada.

“An event like this shows a commitment to brainpower and to young people,” said Chronicle-Journal publisher and general manager Colin Bruce, who acted as host of the event. “For the last two years in a row, Canadians have been one letter away from superstardom. I don’t know if third time’s the charm, but I have a feeling this might be the year.”

But most importantly, the bee is about promoting literacy among students, said CanWest CanSpell representative Collene Ferguson.

“CanWest decided a spelling bee would be a fun way to get kids involved in literacy,” she said. “It basically gives us a chance to celebrate kids who excel academically and like to challenge themselves academically.”

In front of a large crowd of camera and sign-wielding family members and friends, the contestants’ tension was palpable right from the beginning.

“I was kind of nervous because you didn’t know if you were going to get easy or hard words,” said contestant Chandler Watson, 11, a Grade 6 student from Holy Family Catholic Elementary School. “Everyone’s looking at you so you’re scared to make a mistake,” he added.

Most of the students breezed through round one and words like wigwam, sugar, and tuna, but 12-year-old Leah Sever from Crolancia Public School in Pickle Lake was eliminated first for slipping up on the word “bugle.”

As the event went on, the words got progressively harder and the pressure intensified. In the second round, a minor controversy erupted when 11-year-old Kenny Pye from the SPRING Program in Thunder Bay was eliminated for misspelling “denim” after he had heard it wrong. After the judges convened for several moments, he was reinstated in time for round three, but his second chance ended in the fourth round.

While most remained stoic as they asked for areas of origins and definitions, Luc Piccinin of Crestview School in Murillo had a different way of coping with the stress. When asked to spell “nostril,” the 12-year-old broke into a fit of laughter before he was eliminated for using an e instead of an i.

But it was in round five when things got really intense. At the beginning of the round, 12 contestants remained but after harder words like “anchovy,” “Olympian,” and “protein,” just eight were left standing.

In the end though, there could only be one. By round nine, the competition was whittled down to 11-year-old Logan Turner from Agnew H. Johnston Public School and 13-year-old Stephanie Himanen from the Thunder Bay Christian School.

After their standoff, Logan took the first place title by spelling “parfait” correctly.

“It’s really cool, especially since it’s the first time there has been one in Thunder Bay,” he said after accepting his trophy and other prizes, adding that
being on stage was a nerve-wracking experience at first. “Then I didn’t really even look at the audience except for my family and the judges. I forgot everyone else was there,” he said.

While he is a fan of spelling, it’s not one of his favourite subjects in school. Instead, those would be math, gym, and reading. His proud father David said Logan is an avid reader, which has greatly helped his spelling. “When we have to punish him, we threaten to take away his books,” the senior Turner laughed.

And there were no hard feelings among the other contestants who came out for the bee.

“I think the best part was seeing Logan win. I think he deserved it. He was a pretty good speller,” said Shaelyn Leblanc from Crestview School.

Second-place winner Himanen echoed Leblanc’s sentiments.

“It was really fun,” she said of participating. “It felt really good to be up there, and the other kids are very smart and very talented spellers.”