Tampa Teen Competing in 2015 Scripps Spelling Bee

A Tampa teenager is among 285 contestants in the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee Championships.

“Speller No. 40,” also known as Rafael Caballero, is sponsored by the Tampa Bay Spelling Bee Collaborative out of St. Petersburg. The 13-year-old seventh-grader from Williams Middle Magnet School is taking part in the national competition this week.

Caballero aspires to one day be a novelist, but is also learning business strategies as a member of the Future Business Leaders of America, his profile page on the national spelling bee’s website states.

“In his free time, Rafael likes to read and make things out of paper (but not origami),” the page says. “Rafael counts spelling his winning word, ‘insomniac,’ among his top spelling bee moments because it’s in the lyrics of the Owl City song ‘Fireflies.’”

The champion of the 2015 spelling bee will win a $30,000 cash prizes from Scripps, a $5,000 prize from Words with Friends, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond from Merriam-Webster, along with a complete reference library, and $1,100 in reference works from Encyclopaeia Britannica.

Cash prizes are also available for championship finalists.

The finals takes place this Thursday.

Photo of Rafael Caballero taken by Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee

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