THE CORRECT spelling of the word “acquaintance”was enough for Patrick Dorrain to secure the top spot in Ireland’s first national spelling competition.
Patrick, from Scoil Naomh Fiachra, in Illistrin, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, was crowned winner of the Eason Spelling Bee contest yesterday. For his troubles he won a library of books for his school worth €15,000 from Eason.
He was representing Ulster and competed with spellers from the three other provinces. The competition was backed by RTÉ 2FM’s Ryan Tubridy.
Speaking after the event, Tubridy said: “With the awful mangling of the English language courtesy of texting, it’s really important to encourage the younger people to keep their brains well trained with a steady diet of books and words, and hopefully an event like the one we ran will keep the flag flying for super spelling”
Twelve schools were selected from more than 500 entries to take part in regional heats and the regional winner from each province took part in yesterday’s final in RTÉ.
The runners-up were Amy O’Halloran, Scoil na Maighdine Mhuire, Co Clare, Robert McGrath, Kildangan National School, Co Kildare and Seán McNamara, Scoil Náisiúnta a’ Chorrain, Achill Island, Co Mayo.
David Field, head of marketing and retail development at Eason said: “It was a really intense competition and it is wonderful to see such a high standard of spelling exists among Ireland’s young people.”