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A New Spelling Champion Is Crowned

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2013 Spelling Bee Champion Brian Werden handles a word during one of the bee's 27 rounds Saturday.

Sixty champion spellers from Orange and Durham counties filled the stage of Page Auditorium Saturday morning to kick off the fourth annual Duke Regional Spelling Bee, sponsored by the Office of Durham and Regional Affairs.

Three hours later, seventh-grader Brian Werden of Charles W. Stanford Middle was the last speller standing, winner of the regional bee and an all-expenses-paid trip to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., this May.

Werden competed for 27 rounds against spellers in grades one through eight, all of whom had won their school-wide bees. The final seven spellers shared the stage for almost an hour, rattling off words including "schottische" and "gynarchy."

The final group of spellers included Ned Swansey, an E.K. Powe Elementary fifth-grader who won last year's regional bee, and Simisola Gbadegesin, a Durham School of the Arts eighth-grader who had been the regional runner-up for the past two years.

 Also among those final spellers was Werden's younger sister, Kaitlyn. From her seat onstage, she clapped silently for her brother during each round before dropping out of the bee herself in Round 19.

"After I got out, then I really wanted him to win," she laughed afterward.

The audience was still and silent as Werden spelled his champion word, "reprehensible." Then came thunderous applause and a series of prizes presented by Phail Wynn, Jr., Duke vice president for Durham and regional affairs.

Wynn congratulated Werden and asked him to share something about himself with the audience. When Werden shrugged, Wynn asked for his hobbies.         

"Baseball. Basketball. Soccer," Werden said.

Wynn asked how it felt to be the regional spelling champion.

"Good," Werden replied.

"Our regional winner, who spells words superbly, is himself a man of few words," Wynn said with a smile to the audience.

Photos from the event can be found here.