Kiara Jones Crowned 2007 Chicago Tribune City Spelling Bee Champ

CHICAGO, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Kiara Jones, a 6th-grade student from William H. Ray Elementary, has won the 2007 Chicago Tribune Chicagoland Spelling Bee City Championship. Kisha Holloway, a 6th-grader from Theophilus Schmid School was runner-up.

In the 14th and 15th rounds of the competition, Jones correctly spelled veracious and facsimile to win the competition. Jones competed against 16 other top spellers from schools in the City of Chicago to win the title. A total of 91 words were used during the competition.

Jones, along with the suburban champion (WHO WILL BE DETERMINED THIS EVENING), advances to the 80th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., May 30 - May 31.

Jones's prizes for winning the competition include roundtrip airfare, lodging and expenses for Jones and her family for the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., as well as a $500 American Express gift certificate, a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate, a $100 bond and a Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Chicago Tribune Company publishes the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper with daily readership of about 1.8 million and about 2.6 million on Sunday. The company also operates related print and interactive media serving Chicagoland. Chicago Tribune is the founding publication of Tribune Company , one of the country's leading media companies, operating businesses in broadcasting, publishing and on the Internet.

PLEASE NOTE:

The suburban final of the Chicago Tribune Chicagoland Spelling Bee will be held tonight at 6:15 p.m. in the McAninch Arts Center Auditorium at the College of DuPage.