SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Duaa Ouznali from Bright Horizon Academy is our area's champion after emerging victorious in the San Diego County Scripps Regional Spelling Bee!
Ouznali endured nearly 30 rounds of spelling and vocabulary confrontations; she ultimately won the competition after correctly spelling "droshky," which is defined as a public carriage used in Russia.
Ouznali will represent San Diego County at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. towards the end of May.
Thursday's 93 competitors were comprised of spelling bee winners from their respective schools around the county, and they ranged from sixth through eighth grade.
The majority of the spellers were knocked out by Round 2; however, the remaining competitors showed off their wonder for words, dispatching difficult vocabulary left and right. By Round 13, only two spellers remained.
That's when the real duel began: Ouznali sparred against Vann Torio for an additional 14 rounds before besting him. Torio, of O'Farrell Charter School, will act as the alternative speller for San Diego County in the event Ouznali can't make it to the national competition.
The San Diego County Office of Education has been a regional spelling bee partner for many years, underscoring the importance of literacy while building up students' lexicons.
"Our young spelling bee competitors showed their determination, skill, and love of literacy at the competition today," said Dr. Gloria Ciriza, San Diego County superintendent of schools. "The County Office of Education is so proud to support this incredible event and cheer on each student who won at their schools."
Below, you'll find a preview story on the spelling bee from City News Service.
The San Diego County Scripps Regional Spelling Bee returns to the Jackie Robinson YMCA Thursday, with dozens of students in eighth grade or below competing to represent the county on a national stage.
Benjamin Evans, an eighth grader from Twin Peaks Middle School in Poway, won the bee in 2024 by successfully spelling the word "epihippus," an extinct genus of the modern horse family that lived in the Eocene era, 46 million to 38 million years ago.
He then went on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, ultimately being eliminated in the sixth round when he misspelled ravison, a rapeseed of an inferior quality.
Benjamin Evans was among 45 spellers from the original field of 245, the largest since 2019, to advance to the semifinals when he correctly answered his fifth-round multiple-choice vocabulary question earlier Wednesday, "Something described as sectarian is?" selecting "confined to the limits of one group."
There were 14 spellers who incorrectly answered their fifth-round multiple-choice vocabulary question and were eliminated.
Benjamin began Wednesday's quarterfinals by correctly spelling torchére, a tall ornamental stand for a candlestick or candelabra. There were 89 spellers eliminated in the fourth round, the first in the quarterfinals.
The 14-year-old was among 148 spellers who advanced to the quarterfinals by correctly spelling two words and answering a vocabulary question during Tuesday's preliminaries.
Benjamin began the bee by correctly spelling Gondwana, the great southern landmass that formed as a result of the division of a much larger supercontinent known as Pangea about 250 million years ago. He also chose the correct answer to the vocabulary question, "What is a symposium?" by selecting, "a conference in which people give speeches."
In the third round, Benjamin correctly spelled lycopene, a carotenoid pigment that is the red coloring matter of the tomato.
There were 54 spellers eliminated in the first round, 15 in the second and 28 in the third.
The bee will conclude Thursday.
Benjamin qualified for the national bee by winning the San Diego County Scripps Regional Spelling Bee in March, with two-time defending champion Mihir Konkapaka finishing second.
The bee is limited to students in eighth grade or below and who were born on Sept. 1, 2009, or later. Contestants for the 96th edition of the national bee range in age from 8 to 15.
San Diego County has produced two national spelling bee champions -- Anurag Kashyap in 2005 and Snigdha Nandipati in 2012.
The National Spelling Bee is May 27 to 29 in Washington, D.C. The event will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
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