By Alabama Public Radio
Birmingham AL – Nearly five hours into the state's 80th annual spelling bee, the word "sempiternal'' - defined as eternal, everlasting in Round 14 - took on a special meaning for the audience. But Shelby County eighth-grader Grace Pyo persevered and won Saturday's competition by spelling ``philately,'' which her opponent had missed, and then correctly spelling ``cruciferous'' to clinch the bee in Round 15. Pyo will now head to the capitol to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee May 27th-through-June 1st against 285 of the country's best spellers. Second place went to Kaitlin Thaxton, a seventh-grader from Cleburne County Middle School.
The weekend contest at the Birmingham Museum of Art included 65 children in grades 3-through-8.