WILLIAMS, CA (MPG) – Fifth grader Esteban Alvarado of Williams Upper Elementary School won the 2026 Colusa County Elementary Spelling Competition held March 4 at the Colusa County Office of Education Education Village multipurpose room in Williams.
Students in fourth through sixth grade from schools across Colusa County competed for the county title and the opportunity to advance to the California State Elementary Spelling Bee Championship.
The county competition follows a written format rather than the traditional spoken bee. Organizers adopted the written format when the state competition moved to written testing during the COVID-19 pandemic and have continued using it to prepare students for the state contest.
Twenty-four students from schools across the county qualified for the competition, though 21 students ultimately participated. Students represented Arbuckle Elementary School, Egling Middle School, Grand Island Elementary, Williams Upper Elementary School and Maxwell Elementary and Middle School.
Students were given 20 seconds to write each word after hearing its pronunciation, definition and use in a sentence. Spellers were eliminated after their second misspelling.
Colusa County Superintendent of Schools Chuck Wayman welcomed the students and congratulated them for reaching the county competition.
“I want to congratulate each of you for earning your place at tonight’s County Spelling Bee,” Wayman said. “Making it to this stage takes dedication, preparation and a great deal of courage. You represent the very best of your schools and of Colusa County.”
The competition began with the word “lonely” and gradually increased in difficulty. Judges exhausted the original list of 88 words and moved to a secondary list containing more challenging words.
The event lasted more than two hours, with six students remaining in the final rounds.
Esteban Alvarado of Williams Upper Elementary School secured the county championship before the final tie-breaker rounds determined the remaining placements.
“I was impressed,” said Alissa Maas, communications and public relations director for the Colusa County Office of Education, who served as master of ceremonies.
The competition for second place came down to Mohammad Rahman, a fifth grader at Egling Middle School, and Ryder Torrens, a sixth grader at Maxwell Elementary and Middle School and last year’s county champion.
Rahman and Torrens competed through two tie-breaker rounds with the words “perseverance” and “battalion.” The tie was decided with the word “adolescent,” securing second place for Torrens and third place for Rahman.
Judges for the event were Colusa County Librarian Stacey Zwald Costello and Realtors Sandy Dilday and Jennifer Giffin of the Sutter-Yuba Association of Realtors.
The Sutter-Yuba Association of Realtors sponsored the competition and provided funding for the event, including medals and travel reimbursement for the first- and second-place winners.
Maas also thanked Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services John Ithurburn, who served as a backup judge, and Scott Waters from the county Office of Education Technology Services department for assisting during the competition.
Alvarado and Torrens will advance to the California State Elementary Spelling Bee Championship scheduled for April 25 in Manteca.
Students participating in the county competition were Nicolas Piceno of Arbuckle Elementary School, Norah Gross, Andrea Martinez, Mohammad Rahman, Tatyana Leon, Maya Paniagua and Mikayla Guzman of Egling Middle School, Maite Martinez, Reagan Bailey and Duncan Frank of Grand Island Elementary, Mia Vazquez, Adalyn Alvernaz, Esteban Alvarado, Nicolas Lepe and Aidan Ibarra of Williams Upper Elementary School, and Samuel Figueroa, Grecia Alvarez, Ryder Torrens, Aiden Iniguez, Nicolas Chavez Castillo and Kaylee Campbell of Maxwell Elementary and Middle School.