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South Florida Students Hope To S-P-E-L-L Success

MIAMI (CBS4) - Students from across Broward County put their spelling skills to the test Tuesday for the Miami Herald's 71st annual spelling bee competition.

Students from more than 370 elementary and middle school from Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe Counties are taking part in the event which is being staged over two days.

During Wednesday's bee for Broward students Alex Goldenberg from University School and Bhavana Madhu from Pembroke Pines Elementary faced off for the champion title at the Signature Grand in Davie.

Bhavana misspelled Jackanapes, which, if you were wondering, is a noun meaning "a mischievous child."

All that was standing in the way of Goldberg and first place was the word "fungible."
"F-u-n-g-i-b-l-e," he said.

And with that, Alex became Broward's reigning elementary school spelling champion.

After winning, CGS4's Vanessa Borge asked the champion if he loved to spell. His answer was easily spelled out.

"Not really," he said.
As his prize, Goldberg will travel to Washington D.C. to participate in the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.

CBS4 Anchor Jawan Strader and Meteorologist David Bernard will help emcee the event at Jungle Island for Miami-Dade and Monroe County students, grades 4 through 8, on Thursday.

The Miami Herald Spelling Bee Middle School champions also receive a free one-year subscription to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online for Kids, the Samuel Louis Sugarman Award, a $100 Series EE U.S. Savings Bond and a Websters Third New International Dictionary. Other prizes and plaques are awarded to the Elementary School Champion and to the finalists.

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