GA Spelling Bee Runner Up From Gwinnett County Middle School

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — A Gwinnett County middle-school student is runner-up in Georgia’s 2021 State Spelling Bee after losing a tie-breaker to at 13-year-old from Henry County.

Long Nguyen of Sweetwater Middle School in Lawrenceville was one of two Georgia students who qualified by spelling 50 words correctly in an online written test — but he tripped over the word “burtoning.” (According to Merriam-Webster, burtoning is a “system of handling a ship’s cargo by means of a sling rigging between two derricks or masts.”)

Winner Ananya Augustine of Eagle’s Landing Middle School in McDonough outlasted Nguyen to spell her next two words — “lucernal” and “chartaceous” — to win the spell-off, held Friday via Zoom. Augustine had been runner-up herself in 2020.

As this year’s runner-up, Nguyen will receive a trophy, $500 from the Georgia Association of Educations, an iPad Pro and a $50 Amazon gift card from Horace Mann Insurance, a $50 Best Buy gift card, a 2021 U.S. Mint Proof Set — and, of course, one-year online subscriptions to Britannica Online Premium and Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online.

The 20 Georgia finalists who participated ranged from 9 to 14 years old and were from all parts of the state. All of them took a 30-minute timed test Friday morning that consisted of 25 vocabulary and 25 spelling questions.

Two other Gwinnett County students were among the 20 Georgia finalists: Troy Nguyen of The Wesleyan School in Peachtree Corners, and Cayden Mader of Starling Elementary School in Grayson.

“As we look forward to the national bee, we know both Ananya and Long will put forth their best effort and we will be cheering them on all the way,” said Georgia Association of Educators President Lisa Morgan.

Both Augustine and Long Nguyen will take part in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will also be virtual until it is whittled down to 10 to 12 students.The finalists will then travel to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, for in-person competition on July 8.

Visit the Scripps National Spelling Bee website for more information.