Athlone boy wins Leinster spelling bee title

A sixth class pupil from St Mary's National School in Athlone this week became Leinster's champion speller! 

George Mhitarjans emerged victorious in the Eason Spelling Bee Leinster Final at the O'Connell Street, Dublin, store yesterday (Tuesday). 

George is an avid reader and a huge fan of the Percy Jackson book series. 

He will now go on to compete in the Eason Spelling Bee All-Ireland final in The Helix, DCU, in June.

The Eason Spelling Bee is in its ninth year and it encourages kids to read more, expand their vocabulary, and fall in love with literacy. 

Brendan Corbett, Group Head of Marketing at Eason, said; "Each year, the children involved continue to impress us with their level of spelling skill and it’s wonderful to see schools across the country continuing to support this competition."

Along with the prestigious title of Eason Spelling Bee 2019 Champion, the winning speller will also take home a collection of books for their school library, worth €7,500, as well as a personal collection of books worth €500.

This year, 900 schools around Ireland have taken part in the contest. Eason are partnering with Today FM for a fourth year and presenter Alison Curtis is the host of this year’s Provincial and All-Ireland Spelling Bee Finals.