Students participating in the Wilkes County Spelling Bee were (first row, l-r) Kareema Wingfield,Hope Ward (runner-up), Hannah McTier (winner), Wishah Aamir, and Sydney Freeman; (second row) Divesia Lee, Jordan Echols, Emily Treadwell, Gold Walton, and Tia Acree. Hannah McTier has been declared the Wilkes County School System's spelling bee winner. Competition for the finalists was held in the Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School Media Center. Hope Ward was the runner-up.

Hannah is an eighth grade student and had to correct her opponent's misspelled word, "vacuum," and then spell the word "incrimination" correctly. She will represent Wilkes County in the Augusta Qualifying Bee on March 8. She will be among a group of winners from 18 counties in the CSRA.

Two finalists from each grade in grades four through eight were eligible for the competition. Rules and word lists were taken from a website provided by the sponsoring business, the Scripps Howard News Service.

Judges for the competition were Skeet Willingham and Carolyn Gammon.

Hannah McTier (right) was the winner in the Wilkes County School System's Spelling Bee. Hope Ward (left) was the runner-up.