Whiz Kid: Regional Spelling Bee Champ Daniel Byford Capitalizes Off Studying Hard

Name: Daniel Byford, Grade 8

School:  Middletown

Nominated By: All Saints Academy Faculty and Administration

Accomplishments: Daniel won the Regional Spelling Bee for Rhode Island's Catholic School Division on January 31 and recently participated in the state bee on March 12.

Key to Awesomeness: Byford outlasted his fellow competitors on the regional stage over more than six rounds of word challenges, before winning on "varicose."

How did he prepare? For starters, he learned from the past and moved on, he said. Last year, when he had been chosen as an alternate for the same competition, he didn't expect to compete, didn't prepare as well and, when called upon to compete, he was eliminated on the word "grocery," he recalled.

"I probably studied harder this time around," Daniel said.

He came back this year determined as ever to represent his school outright. He also logged plenty of miles on his spelling bee study guide and played word games, especially Scrabble, he said.

In his spare time, Daniel also plays on the ASA basketball team, along with fellow ASA Whiz Kid .

Know a great kid who deserves to be recognized? Submit your nomination to cara.kenefick@patch.com.