Student Won $1,000 by Correctly Spelling “Psalm” and “Theocracy”

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Forty-four elementary students from across Southern California competed for $1,000 cash at the 2006 Southern California Spelling Bee Championship held in Long Beach on Sunday, March 19. But, it was fourth grader Matt Buckley from Hillcrest Academy in Temecula, who took home the prize by correctly spelling "psalm" and "theocracy."

The 90-minute competition took place at the Bay Shore Church, which has hosted the annual event since it began five years ago.

Justin Rudd, whose nonprofit Community Action Team organized the bee, said he started the contest to encourage proper spelling, increase vocabulary, and develop correct English usage. The event was sponsored in part by Dictionary.com.

The bee began with randomly-selected words at the fifth-grade level, but ninth- and 10th-grade words were used by the time the contest ended. Students were eliminated from the competition after misspelling one word. The rules were fashioned after the National Spelling Bee, a contest for students up to and including eighth grade.

All Southern California public, private, and parochial schools were allowed to enter one speller in the Championship. Some home-schooled students were also allowed to participate. Students up to and including the fifth grade are eligible to participate.

Words from the 2006 final rounds: dirigible, heir, repertoire, flourish, meringue, maneuver, collision, foresee, unicycle.

Past champions and their winning words: 2005 Gabriella Pineda, 10, Anaheim, unacceptable and tyranny; 2004 Steve Wang, 11, Palos Verdes Estates, irretrievable; 2003 Timothy Johnson, 11, Torrance, belie and indebtedness; 2002 Kelli Conley, 10, Long Beach, legible and conscience.