Kilkenny student wins national spelling bee
July 9, 2012
A KILKENNY student has finished in first place at the Eason All-Ireland Spelling Bee Championships 2012.
Liam O’ Lionaird, aged 11, from Gaelscoil Osrai in Loughboy won the competition, which is organised by Eason in partnership with RTÉ 2fm. Kicking off his Spelling Bee journey as the representative of Gaelscoil Osrai school, Liam soared through the Kilkenny county bee, taking the top prize.
He then made his way to the Leinster Provincial Final where he then competed against 11 County Bee Winners to take the title for the province. Next and final stop was the grand final that took place today in RTÉ, where Liam mastered the spelling of words such ‘Bathysphere’ and ‘Bibliography’ to be the crowned the overall champion live on RTÉ 2fm.
This year’s spelling bee saw the introduction of the county bees, which took place in each of the 32 counties nationwide, followed by four provincial finals where RTÉ 2fm’s Ryan Tubridy broadcast live capturing the buzz and excitement which then culminated in the grand final in RTE Studios.
Speaking at the Eason 2012 Spelling Bee Final, RTÉ 2fm presenter Ryan Tubridy said he had enjoyed every minute.
“This week we’ve travelled to Limerick, Galway, Cavan and back to Dublin, and we got to experience the whole spelling bee buzz firsthand,” he said.
“The endless efforts from all the schools in preparing the kids and hosting the events has been incredible but what’s even more astounding is the spelling ability of the kids. I’m delighted for Liam who is our champion but would like to congratulate each and every school who took part.”
Also speaking at final, David Field, head of marketing at Eason said:
“Congratulations to Liam on being crowned this year’s champion and winning an entire library of books for Gaelscoil Oscrai school. We’re so delighted with this year’s Spelling Bee and would like to thank RTÉ 2fm for their support together with the hundreds of schools who really made our Spelling Bee such a success.”
The Eason Spelling Bee is one of many Eason initiatives seeking to encourage kids to perfect their spelling and also to hone their pronunciation skills. For more details on the Eason Spelling Bee, visit www.easons.com/spellingbee and stay tuned to RTÉ 2fm for more details.
