INSERT-grade from INSERT County now heads to Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.

The First Coast Spelling Bee is coming up, giving 14 local students the chance at the local title and a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.

St. Johns County homeschooled student representing Union County wins First Coast Spelling Bee.

The First Coast Spelling Bee is less than two weeks away.

When local spelling champ Erik Williams punched his ticket to the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee, he looked to improve upon his 2019 performance when he finished in 51st place.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The best fifth- through eighth-grade spellers from 14 counties in Northeast and North Central Florida will compete later this month in the 77th annual First Coast Spelling Bee. Rather than gathering in an auditorium, the March 29 bee will be held on Zoom. It’s Manischa Wijayawardhana of St. Johns County’s third regional bee. Armand Küykendall of Putnam County is also back for a third regional bee. The 14 county winners in the order they will compete on March 29OPEN: Details, photos of our 14 contestants

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The 14 best spellers from North Florida competed live Thursday night for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and for the second year in a row, Erik Williams is moving on to Washington D.C. “I was pretty sure I knew what the word was, but I wanted to ask all of the questions just to make sure,” Erik said. Before his back-to-back wins, Erik was a runner-up during the First Coast Spelling Bee in 2018. The seventh grade St. Johns Country Day student appeared Friday on “The Morning Show.”RELATED | Interactive map of First Coast Spelling Bee contestantsErik defended his title at Jacksonville University’s Terry Concert Hall against some top notch competition from counties around Northeast Florida. Here are the contestants in the order that they competed, which was determined by a random drawing.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One word -- “methodically”-- earned speller Saachi Sharma the regional crown at the 74th annual First Coast Spelling Bee. But there were 25 words that were incorrectly spelled that year, knocking out the other contestants from the 14 counties represented. RELATED | Meet the contestants for the 2020 First Coast Spelling Bee | How well can you spell? Test your knowledge with our spelling testHere are all the words that stumped contestants at the First Coast Spelling Bee:CleanserMathematicsCapricornContrabandLoamRenovateSitzmarkAriaGraffitiFlotillaPangolinTamaleVirtuosoBoleroCavalryPasteurizeBabkaLokshenKibeiMeijiShuffleboardDistillationTidinessVersatileBorealIn Round 9, the word “graupel” was also spelled wrong, but the contestant was not eliminated because the word was mispronounced.

Over the next 60 days, hundreds of elementary and high school students from 14 counties in Northeast Florida will compete for the title of the best speller in their county. Those 14 will advance to the First Coast Spelling Bee in February. That competition, televised on WJXT, will determine who will advance to represent the First Coast at the Annual Scripps Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.Here’s the schedule of the county bees. Watch for coverage of each on News4Jax as we cover the road to the 2020 First Coast Spelling Bee.