Joshua Caplinger took a chance on word “Eurasia” and came out a winner of the 15th annual Kentucky Derby Festival Spelling Bee.
   “Two of the words I didn’t know and had to guess at, including the last one,” said Caplinger, who was participating in his first Derby Festival Spelling Bee. “I was really nervous … but very excited to win. All the studying was worth it.”
   Caplinger, a 12-year-old seventh-grade student at West Carter Middle School in Olive Hill, will take his memory of the word that means a normal state of health Washington, D.C., to represent Kentucky the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee, beginning May 29.
   The Kentucky spelling bee is held in March and is sponsored by Kentucky Farm Bureau and Churchill Downs, which hosted the event in a room overlooking the historic track where the Kentucky Derby is run every year on the first Saturday in May.  WHAS-AM, a 50,000-watt station in Louisville, and Insight Cable are contributing sponsors.
   The competition is open only to students in grades four through eight. In beating 44 other competitors from Kentucky and Southern Indiana who spelled their way through 165 words in 18 rounds, Caplinger won an all-expense paid trip to the national event, a Webster’s International Dictionary and a $100 savings bond.
   Ben Coomer of Jackson County, Ind., placed second in the spelling bee.
   Other finalists behind Coomer, in order of finish, were: Vania Ma of Fayette County; Amrita Srinivasan of Mason County; and Samantha McKean of Hardin County.

Staff Report
KENTUCKY FARM BUREAU