For the second year in a row, Angelina Holm won the Colorado State Spelling Bee, clinching the title Saturday at the University of Denver’s Sturm Hall.
The now seventh-grader at the Denver School of the Arts spelled heliacal — “relating to or near the sun,” according to Merriam-Webster’s definition — correctly, taking home the championship title at the 79th annual event, announced Stacy Schafer, marketing, development and communication manager of The Denver Post Community Foundation. Holm was competing against
The community foundation and its partners raise money and provide funding and in-kind services to nonprofits throughout the state. The nonprofit also hosts events throughout the year, including the Colorado State Spelling Bee.
Holm spelled heliacal correctly in round 25 of this year’s competition. To win last year, she spelled sphalerite — the chief ore of zinc — and helminthiasis — an infestation of parasitic worms — for the state title.
Seventh-grader Ben Holland from Hamilton Middle School came in second place, followed by fifth-grader Lachlan Flanigan from Cory Elementary School. Holland similarly competed against Holm last year .
Holm will now represent Colorado for a second year at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May near Washington, D.C., for a $40,000 cash prize. She , but organizers correctly predicted they would see her again.
She will join other students from Colorado at the national competition, including , the spelling bee champion for a third time in Boulder. Last year, for the first time, the National Spelling Bee allowed local school spelling bee champions or past National Spelling Bee participants to pay an entry fee and participate in the competition. Three of the participants were from Colorado, according to the Colorado State Spelling Bee.
According to a news release from the foundation, students from Colorado won the national spelling bee in 1957, 1959, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1989 and 2002.
