Date May 28, 1948 Age 14 Sponsor Akron Beacon Journal | Winner Jean Chappelear | |
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Location Auditorium of the National Press Building, Washington, D.C. | ||
The 21st Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, District of Columbia on May 28, 1948, hosted by the E.W. Scripps Company. The winner was 14-year old Jean Chappelear of Ohio, correctly spelling the word psychiatry.
Second place went to 14-year old Darrell Flavelle of Washington, D.C., who misspelled "oligarchy," followed by Rosemary Schirmer of White Oak, Ohio who took third after missing "ecclesiastical." Both Chappellear and Flavelle missed "poncho" and "termagant" before the end. Chappellear held a "lucky penny" throughout the contest.
There were 40 contestants ages 11-14 in the bee this year, and it ran longer than any prior bees, with a total of 593 words used.
References
21st Scripps National Spelling Bee Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA