Eleven-year-old Holly Shaughnessy from Crumlin National School, Ballyglunin, Tuam, was named winner of the Galway County Spelling Bee when came out on top against 41 other spelling enthusiasts at the county championships this week.
Holly will now be entered into the Connacht Provincial Spelling Bee final at the end of May. The Fifth Class student loves reading and her favourite author is JK Rowling. The Eason Spelling Bee encourages kids throughout the country to practice their spelling, to read more, and strives to instil greater confidence when it comes to literacy and spelling, from a young age.
Brendan Corbett, Group Head of Marketing at Eason, said they are proud of the success of the Eason Spelling Bee to date.
“Over the eight years, we have seen the children of our nation continue to impress with their level of spelling and it’s wonderful to see schools from across the country continuously supporting this initiative,” he said.
Each year the competition begins with registered schools hosting their own in-school Bee competitions, to find their school champion. From there, the Eason Spelling Bee team hits the road to host the County Final Bees, which then leads to four Provincial Finals. The All-Ireland Final will take place in June 2018, where the champion speller will be crowned.
The winning school will receive a collection of books for their library to the value of €7,500. The Spelling Bee winner will be awarded a goody bag full of books worth €500 and the prestigious title of the 2018 Eason Spelling Bee champion.
