Hilo eighth-grader spells her way to victory in Big Island bee

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Hilo spelling whiz Hannah Katibah successfully navigated toughies such as "autumnal" and "ostentation" to emerge as the winner of the Big Island 2004 spelling bee yesterday.

Katibah, a St. Joseph School eighth-grader, and Big Island runner-up Lacey Honda will compete in the State Spelling Bee, set for Sunday in Honolulu. It will be shown on K5 at 5 p.m.

Katibah, 13, was runner-up in the Big Island competition last year and placed sixth in the state spelling bee.

During yesterday's 2004 Hawai'i District Spelling Bee final competition at Hilo High School, Katibah outspelled 13 other students from eight Big Island public and private schools to advance to the state finals.

The winner of the state bee will advance to the 77th annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, to be held May 26-28 in Washington.

A book-a-week reader, Katibah said she studied for about a half-hour a day for two months leading up to yesterday's match.

She was pleased she didn't draw words she finds particularly troublesome, such as "commitment."

"I knew all the words," she said. "I got lucky."

Honda, a Hawai'i Preparatory Academy eighth-grader, was able to correctly spell words such as "aeronautic" and "unilaterally," but stumbled on "litmus" in the seventh round.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.

Correction: The date of the 2004 Hawaii State Spelling Bee bee was incorrect in a previous versio of this story.