After eight rounds of tough competition, Kayla Williams walked away with the first place trophy for spelling “prolix” during the annual Lauderdale County Spelling Bee held at Meridian Little Theatre Friday morning. 

The word, which means “unduly drawn out or using an excess of words” was the most challenging word the young student spelled all morning.

“It was a lot of fun,” said the Northeast Lauderdale eighth grader, who was one of 50 students from Lauderdale County school and Russell Christian Academy who competed in the bee. The annual event was sponsored by The Meridian Star, Meridian Little Theatre and the Lauderdale County School District.

After misspelling the word “denizen,” Northeast sixth grader Ananya Mantri came in second place.

“I feel proud of myself,” she said. “And I’m excited that I won second place.”

West Lauderdale sixth grader Brody Gressett received third place honors after spelling the word “dramatization” correctly. Gressett said the most challenging word he encountered was “raucous.”  

“I was really nervous, but towards the end I started to feel more confident,” he said.

Amalia Santiago came in fourth place after spelling the word “enviable” correctly. 

Ken Hardy, Director of Federal Program and Student Data for Lauderdale County schools said the event was good way for students to come together and compete, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I think it was a great event,” he said. “I’m so glad that students from Lauderdale County were able to participate.”

Williams will compete as the area representative in the state spelling bee on March 24 in Jackson. The winner of that bee will go on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee on June 1-3 in National Harbor, Maryland.