The 2nd

National Spelling Bee The Scripps National Spelling Bee, formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and often referred to as the National Spelling Bee or simply “the Spelling Bee” in the United States, is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. ...

was held at the

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on Thursday, June 17, 1926, sponsored by the ''

Louisville Courier-Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in ...

''.

Scripps-Howard The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by E. W. Scripps, Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a ...

would not sponsor the Bee until 1941. The winner was Pauline Bell, age 13, who attended a one-room schoolhouse in Clarkson, Kentucky. She correctly spelled the word ''cerise''.(19 December 2010)
Obituary: Pauline Bell Dunn, 98, Campbellsville alum
''Columbia Magazine''(24 June 1926)
This Girl Kept Spelling Title For Ol' Kaintuck
''

Reading Eagle The ''Reading Eagle'' is the major daily newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania. A family-owned newspaper until the spring of 2019, its reported circulation is 37,000 (daily) and 50,000 (Sundays). It serves the Reading and Berks County region of P ...

''(23 July 2002)
Pen Pals: Women have written to each other since the Coolidge administration
''

The Daily News (Kentucky) The ''Daily News'' is a daily-except-Saturday newspaper based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It is published Sunday mornings and Monday through Friday evenings. History The current newspaper can trace its roots to the ''Bowling Green Democrat'' fou ...

'' Second place was taken by Betty Robinson of

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

, who would win the 4th bee in 1928, but spelled "cerise" as "cereaso" this time, and third went to Dorothy Casey of

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

.(18 June 1926)
Louisville Girl Awarded Prize in Spelling Contest
''St. Petersburg Times''(18 June 1926)
"Cerise" Wins $1,000 and a Spelling Bee for Kentucky Miss
''Lewiston Daily Sun'' There were 25 spellers this year – 17 girls and 8 boys, a big jump from the nine spellers in the first Bee. The first prize was $1000, followed by $500 for second and $200 for third. The record number of Bee contestants was not broken until the 1941 bee. Bell (married name Dunn) later attended Campbellsville Junior College and worked as a school teacher and social worker. She died in

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a city in Warren County, Kentucky, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 72,294 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Kentucky, third-most populous city in the stat ...

on December 17, 2010, at age 98.McKinney, Joan (28 October 2009)
CU Alum Recommends CU as ‘Wonderful Place’
Campbellsville UniversityObituary: Pauline Bell Dunn, 98, Campbellsville alum
''Columbian Magazine''

References

{{Scripps National Spelling Bee 02 1926 in Washington, D.C. 1926 in education June 1926 in the United States