It was déjà vu but with a twist. Same parish, same spellers and same venue, but the twist is that there is a new champion for the parish of Clarendon.

St Gabriel's Anglican Church Hall was where the stage was set, as an intense few minutes would determine the winner. That winner would be Stephen Nelson of Glenmuir High, coached by the Reverend Glen Archer.

In the final minutes of the spelldown, Tajaun Gibbison of Knox College, and Nelson stood side by side, a position all too familiar to them. Gibbison, the defending champion, was confident in his diction, but faltered when he misspelt P-R-O-F-L-I-G-A-T-E.

As he predicted, Nelson corrected Gibbison's mistake and moved on to correctly spell N-O-S-O-C-O-M-I-A-L.

EMOTIONAL ENDING

With tears in his eyes and a hug from his coach, Stephen was announced the winner of The Gleaner's Children's Own Spelling Bee parish final for Clarendon.

"I feel vindicated. After four years of trying, and this being my final year, I knew I had to do it," he said with a smile.

When asked of the time and preparation it took and the expectation of the win, Archer described the programme as "intense and multifaceted" and went on to say: "We don't go in expecting to win, but we prepare well enough to win."

In one final thought, the champ himself said: "Look out for me at The Scripps Howard, in Washington, because I will win at nationals."

Top Five

1. Stephen Nelson; Glenmuir High

2. Tajaun Gibbison; Knox College

3. Larona Clayton; St Thomas More Prep

4. Tareek Davis; Denbigh High

5. Ammir Nehemi; Vere Technical High

Winning word:

N-O-S-O-C-O-M-I-A-L