Bibb County will not be representing Georgia at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but a Gwinnett County teen will be.

Rutland Middle School student Junus Searcy was eliminated in the fourth round at the 52nd Annual Georgia Association of Educators State Spelling Bee. Searcy was misspelled "cogent" meaning convincing or believable.

13-year-old Nicholas Poulos from The Wesleyan School in Gwinnett County beat 19 other competitors and go on to become the winner of the 52nd Annual Georgia Association of Educators State Spelling Bee. He will now represent Georgia in the Scripps National Spelling Bee Championships in Washington, D.C., May 28-30, 2013.

It was in the 25th round that the field was narrowed down to Nicholas and 12-year-old Rohan Ramdeholl from North Gwinnett Middle School. Nicolas and Rohan both missed the words “fuguist” and “epaxial.” Rohan was then given “quiddity” but spelled it with one “d.” Nicholas spelled it correctly and was given the word “fibrinogen” which he spelled correctly to become state champion. Rounds 20 and up proved to be the ones that begin weeding out the contestants with words such as sociologese, coadjutor, and illusoriness.

“I’m very excited to be going to Washington [D.C.] to Scripps,” said Poulos. “I am going to prepare the very best I can with a lot more studying. I’m going to study every possible word list I can get my hands on because I know the Scripps words will be difficult.”

Should Nicholas, for any reason, be unable to represent Georgia at the nationals, Rohan would take his place.

“I can’t say enough about what these young people have accomplished,” said GAE President Calvine Rollins. “Everyone associated with their efforts should be very proud and on behalf of GAE I congratulate each and every one of them. And our thoughts and prayers are with Nicholas and his family as they travel to Washington to represent Georgia and hopefully bring back the national championship.”

In addition to his first place trophy and an all expense paid trip to the national championship and $1,000 (GAE), Nicholas also will have a choice of either an Amazon Kindle Fire or Ipad Mini and a $100 Amazon gift card (Horace Mann Insurance Companies), a dictionary (Merriam-Webster), a one-year online subscription (Encyclopaedia Britannica), and one $100 U.S. Savings Bond (Samuel L. Sugarman Award). Rohan, as runner-up, took home a second place trophy and $500 (GAE), and also has a choice of either an Amazon Kindle Fire or Ipad Mini along with a $50 Amazon gift card (Horace Mann Insurance Companies), and a dictionary (Merriam-Webster). All contestants received $25, a certificate of participation, and a GAE State Bee lapel pin.

ORDER OF ELIMINATION - County/word/Round:

Davia Allen – Early/Reckless/1

John Roberts - Dodge/Diorama/1

Lua Adwet Samandari – Decatur City/Analyst/3

Theron Camp - Clarke/Router/3

Junus Searcy – Bibb/Cogent/4

Hannah Creighton - Tattnall/Nuptials/4

Pooja Prabakaran – Muscogee/Frontiersman/4

Maddie Moore – Paulding/Vulgar/4

Tyler Queen - Gilmer/Exhalation/4

Kathleen Mabutin – Henry/Deprecatory/5

Apurva Routhu – Woodward Academy/Risible/5

Jett Kiminas – Colquitt/Automaton/6

Jules McNeice – Cobb/Cheka/15

Aanya Sawhney – Cobb/Keeshond/17

Uche Chuwukere – Chatham/Jejunely/18

Jazz Duncan – Rockdale/Illusoriness/19

Karl Patram – Gwinnett/Coadjutor/19

John Knauss – Rome City/Sociologese/22

Rohan Ramdeholl – Gwinnett/Epaxial/26

CHAMPION

Nicholas Poulos - Wesleyan School/Fibrinogen/27