Emma is the 2008 CanSpell National Spelling Bee Champion. The winning word was 'hamadryad'.

Emma's first book was J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, which she read at the age of six, and it remains her favourite book today. She studied for the Bee with a computer program created by her father, along with verbal drills with her mother. In her free time, Emma enjoys horseback riding, hockey and swimming. She has a younger brother, Nicholas, a cat named Gandalf, and a rabbit called Blackberry. Emma tells us that her hometown of Ottawa has the longest skating rink in the world!