Vincent Jiang, an eighth-grade student at Mount Vernon Middle School, won the 2026 Knox County Spelling Bee after 26 rounds on Wednesday evening. The event took place at the Mount Vernon High School theater and featured 19 participants from grades five through eight representing Centerburg, Danville, East Knox, Fredericktown, and Mount Vernon schools.
Jiang faced a close contest with Jace Daugherty, a seventh-grader from East Knox Junior High. The two competed head-to-head for the final nine rounds. Jiang commented on his preparation by saying, “I studied as much as I could but not as much as I had wanted to.” When asked if he was nervous during the competition, Jiang replied simply, “Yes.”
Daugherty finished as runner-up. He kept pace with Jiang from the 18th to the 26th round and correctly spelled words such as “extremophile.” In the last round, Daugherty misspelled “emphatically,” omitting one 'l'. Jiang then spelled “prognosticate” correctly and secured victory by spelling “affiliation.” Afterward, Daugherty congratulated Jiang on stage.
With this win, Jiang will advance to take the online qualifying test for the Ohio Region 2 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in March. Winners of regional competitions will proceed to the national bee in Washington, D.C., scheduled for May.
All students who participated had previously won grade-level spelling bees at their respective schools. Judges for this year’s county bee included Knox County Commissioners Drenda Keesee and Barry Lester. Cheryl Splain of Knox Pages also served as a judge in place of Commissioner Bill Pursel.
Taylor Gingery, gifted consultant at the Knox County Educational Service Center (ESC), acted as pronouncer for the event. The ESC is responsible for organizing and facilitating the annual spelling bee. Gingery expressed gratitude to sponsors: “I would like to thank the Mount Vernon Rotary Foundation for their generous contribution in providing gift certificates and T-shirts for the contestants and trophies for the winner and runner-up.” She also acknowledged Paragraphs Bookstore for offering discounted gift certificates.
Other students participating were Avaya Hibbits, Ethan Arms, Willow Barnard, Lucas Roth (Centerburg); Camren Clark, Glen Geog, Kellyn Addair, Charlotte Meyers (Danville); Jackson Daugherty, Marley Moore, Callie May (East Knox); Parker Fearn, Cross Adkins, Sophia Workman, Carsyn Adkins (Fredericktown); Edward Ernest and Xzyaeren Gabriel Cabarcas (Mount Vernon).
