6-Year-Old Lori Anne Madison Will Have National Bee All Abuzz

                I have a confession: I’m something of a spelling bee geek.  It all started in eighth grade – the last year I was eligible for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Participating in that competition, held annually in Washington, had always been a dream of mine.

                In elementary school, I once made it through the classroom bee to the school bee, but didn’t win. But eighth grade was going to be my year. I still remember the day of our classroom bee, the first step in the qualification process.  After several rounds, I was still alive, but when my turn came, the teacher called out the word “debris.”

                Total blank.

                All I could think of was “degree.”  I knew I was going down.  Quietly, I muttered, “D-e-b-r-e-e.”  Ding.  Dream shattered.

                So now I am left to live vicariously through the successes of other young spellers.  As a newspaper reporter, I covered several school, local and regional bees, including having the honor of presenting a dictionary to the winner on behalf of “Queen Bee,” as we called the newspaper’s spelling bee coordinator.

                Then, as publisher of The News Virginian in Waynesboro, Va., and later of the News & Messenger in Prince William County, Va., I worked with our staff and school and community volunteers to produce a half-dozen or so regional bees.  I enjoyed each and every one, even persuading the local public television station to broadcast the Waynesboro bee (live, too).

My favorite event of the year

                As I told the spellers and audience at the start of every bee, to me, this was the real “March Madness” (apologies to CBS and the NCAA).

               Over the years of running bees, I’ve appeased angry parents upset about a judge’s ruling, listened to complaints about pronouncers, handled accusations of cheating, and dealt with a balky videotape machine. Some folks take this stuff pretty seriously.

                But nothing can compare with Lori Anne Madison. At the Prince William bee in 2011, Lori Anne represented a local homeschool group.  She was 5 – an age at which many children can’t even read, let alone spell.

          Having had some third- and fourth-graders in previous bees and seen them drop out at a very early stage, I wasn’t expecting much. One word or two, I thought, and Lori Anne – cute as she was – would be back sitting with her mom in the audience. Boy, was I wrong. As the rounds went on, she strode up to the microphone with the confidence of a veteran, carefully pulled it down as much as possible, stood on her tippy-toes, and spelled word after word correctly, without even so much as a pause.  There was no doubt she KNEW every word she was given. Other competitors, ranging up to 14 years old, were falling by the wayside.

               “This girl could actually win,” I thought.  But she went too fast on a word, tripped up, and was eliminated – still finishing fifth, if I remember correctly.

Complaints from other competitors, parents

There was an issue, though. The bee lasted almost two hours, and contestants were sitting on hard plastic chairs on the stage.  As the event dragged on, the 5-year-old in her occasionally got the best of Lori Anne, and she fidgeted in her seat and tried to talk to some of the other competitors.  Several parents complained afterward about the distractions, although the boy who sat next to Lori Anne – and potentially could have been the most distracted – won the bee.

Afterward, we double-checked the Scripps National Bee rules, but there is no minimum age requirement to compete in the National Bee.  Regional bees can set local eligibility requirements, but we had set none regarding age.  So Lori Anne was eligible – and probably coming back.

Sure enough, although I had left the News & Messenger, Lori Anne returned to this year’s bee as a 6-year-old and won.  According to the best records the Scripps folks have, she will be the youngest competitor ever in the national bee – by two years! Making this accomplishment even more impressive is the fact that Prince William County is not some backwoods school district.  It’s the second or third largest school district in the state, with the recognition, resources and awards to boot.  There were 21 other competitors in the bee, ranging in age up to 14 years old, and the little 6-year-old from Woodbridge outlasted them all.

See photos and watch video of the bee from insidenova.com

Since winning that bee two weeks ago, Lori Anne has been featured on local news and was even ABC News’ person of the week. From what I can tell, she has handled it all with aplomb and shows maturity beyond her years.

At the National Bee, at the end of May, she’ll be up against almost 300 of the best spellers in the country, many of whom have been to the National Bee three or four times already.  But it wouldn’t surprise me to tune in to the finals on ESPN and see Lori Anne in the spotlight, standing on tippy-toes to reach the microphone, and knocking down one word after another.

And I’m certain she would never miss “debris.”