Apparently different news reporters have very different attitudes toward Jamaica’s spellers.

In its article on the National Spelling Bee, the New York Times claims that “Trudy C. McLeary [was] a polite 14-year-old from Kingston, Jamaica, whose lilting accent and prim manner charmed the tense audience.”

On the other hand, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution demonstrates a markedly different attitude toward Trudy: “The audience, mostly parents of spellers no longer in the hunt, grew irritated with Trudy McLeary of Jamaica, who asked the announcer repeatedly if he was sure there were no other pronunciations or definitions for her word.”

Hmm… I’ll leave the analysis of those two quotes up to you, the readers. ::grin::

Congratulations to Sai Gunturi, winner of the 76th Annual National Spelling Bee! Faced with such tough words, your attitude was nonetheless quite pococurante.

Congrats are also due for Evelyn Blacklock, who surprised everyone by making it all the way to second place; JJ Goldstein, spelling family protégé who tied for third place; and Samir Patel, the extremely gifted third-grader with whom Goldstein tied.

Who’d have thought it would go on this long? This is allegedly the longest National Spelling Bee ever… but despite the insane length, it was as fun to watch as it always is for this ex-bee geek.