Local students will compete in the Chilton County Spelling Bee on Wednesday for a chance to exhibit their spelling skills at the state level in March.

The Chilton County Spelling Bee is set for Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 8:30 a.m. at the Alabama Power Conference Center in Clanton.

The event is open to the public.

The winner will advance to the Alabama Spelling Bee to be held March 8 at Oak Mountain High School.

Participants in the 2014 Chilton County Spelling Bee include:

•Andrew Simpson, a fourth grader at Clanton Intermediate, who spelled “stubble” correctly to win the CIS bee. He is the 10-year-old son of James and Melissa Simpson. He said his favorite word to spell is “deputy” because it’s challenging. This will be his first time to compete at the county level.

•Sarah Elizabeth Huntley, a sixth grader at Clanton Middle, who spelled “wheedle” correctly to win the CMS bee. She is the 11-year-old daughter of Tony and Liz Huntley. She said her favorite word to spell is “anthropomorphic” because it is challenging. This will be her third time to compete at the county level.

•Nathaniel Quesenberry, a fourth grader at Jemison Elementary, who spelled “hackamore” correctly to win the JES bee. He is the 9-year-old son of Kim and John Quesenberry. He said his favorite word to spell is “shiatzhu” because it is challenging to do the ‘zh’ in spelling the word, and the ‘zh’ is the best part of spelling shiatzhu.

•Cheyann Barchard, a fifth grader at Verbena, who spelled “sketch” correctly to win the VHS bee. She is the 10-year-old daughter of Ashley Barchard. She said her favorite word to spell is “silly” because it is easy to spell and she likes being silly. This will be her first time to compete at the county level.

•Yahir Gonzalez, an eighth grader at Thorsby, who spelled “lawyer” correctly to win the THS bee. He is the 14-year-old son of Armando Castro and Gabriela Gonzalez. He said his favorite word to spell is “lawyer” because that was the championship word with which he won the spelling bee. This will be his first time to compete at the county level.

•Jacylin Smith, a sixth grader at Jemison Middle. This will be her third time to compete at the county level. She was runner-up in the 2013 Chilton County Spelling Bee.

Runners-up from the schools include: Christie Xie, Clanton Intermediate; Nicolas Johnson, Clanton Middle; Logan Mitchell, Jemison Elementary; Laliah Benjamin, Verbena; Christian Fortner, Thorsby; and Anna Kendrick, Jemison Middle.

Runners-up would compete in the bee should the winners be unable to compete.

Isabella and Maplesville did not participate this year.

For coverage of the 2014 Chilton County Spelling Bee, check ClantonAdvertiser.com and future editions of the newspaper.