This year's Citizen and CanWest spelling bee will feature 44 competitors from Prince Rupert to McBride and from Fort St. John to Quesnel.
The winner will take home a cheque for $5,000 from the Egg Farmers of Canada, distinguishing that person as a real smart egg with extra funds in their pocket to pursue their education.
"Our northern representative will win a trip to Ottawa in March to compete in the national spelling bee against 20 other CanWest CanSpell winners from participating Canadian cities," said Citizen co-ordinator Alan Ramsay.
The national winner will take home $15,000 and will be invited to attend the Scripps Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. in early June.
The public is welcome to attend the fourth annual bee beginning at 1 p.m. Feb. 26 at Vanier Hall.
"We're ready and looking forward to meeting all the contestants," said Ramsay who does his level best to make the competition as fun and comfortable as possible for contestants.
Each will have an opportunity to be on stage, learn the format, use the microphone in a practice run and enjoy snacks offered.
Last year's northern winner was Tiffany Plug, a Grade 7 student of Ebenezer Canadian Reform School in Smithers. In 2008, Breanna Siemens from John McInnis junior secondary school captured the prize, and our first winner in 2007 was Athena Nghi Huynh from Heritage elementary.
--btrick@pgcitizen.ca
For the complete "smart-version" of the Prince George Citizen visit our Digital Edition
