North Alabama boy protests loss in spelling bee on `kudzu'
1/29/2008, 4:28 p.m. CST
The Associated Press
FAIRVIEW, Ala. (AP) — Krystian Doss says he knows how to spell "kudzu," and he's positive he got the word right during the Cullman County spelling bee. Just like in the NFL, though, the final call came down to a video replay.
Christina Oanca was named the winner of the annual competition on Monday when judges determined Doss spelled "kudzu" with a "c" where the "z" should have been. After an initial protest they reviewed a video of the event — a byproduct of a past miscue.
Doss was named the runner-up, but he isn't budging on whether he was wronged.
"I know I spelled it right," said the boy, a student at Good Hope Elementary School.
Doss was on stage when the judges asked him to spell "kudzu." The boy responded right away, said father Kevin Doss.
"He did not hesitate one bit, he knew that word and he spelled it correctly," Kevin told The Cullman Times.
Judges didn't hear it that way, however. They said Krystian spelled the word incorrectly — and that led to a review. While "c" and "z" can be similar sounds when voiced, the judges said the video upheld their belief that he got the word wrong.
Following Krystian's elimination, Christina won the bee by correctly spelling "cilantro." She now is eligible to go on to the state bee in Montgomery.
Denise Schuman, the system's elementary curriculum coordinator who oversees the annual spelling bee, said the video recording was reliable "because you can see the facial movements and sounds and everything."
Unfortunately, problems have mired past spelling bees.
Organizers began videotaping the competition a few years ago after a TV station's videotape revealed that a contestant who was declared the winner actually had misspelled a word.
"It was so traumatic we implemented the automatic replay so we can avoid that in future bees," Schuman said.
Krystian said despite the bittersweet experience, he plans to be back. "Hopefully I can go to state next year," he said.
Schuman said it was unfortunate the event ended in controversy.
"If I could play this out differently, believe me I would," she said.
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Information from: The Cullman Times
Article submitted by Jane-Ann Heitmueller