Seven students will represent New Jersey.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Seven New Jersey students are among the 285 entrants in the 89th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee.
After a preliminary written test on Tuesday, the students began spelling their words on stage Wednesday at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center here, south of the nation's capital.
A misplaced consonant or vowel, and the student will be disqualified. The field will be whittled down further, based on the results of the written test, and up to 50 students will return to the stage Thursday, with the initial rounds televised on ESPN2 and the finals broadcast on ESPN that evening.
Last year, Katharine S. Wang of Morristown made it to the semifinals before misspelling cinqueciento, a term referring to the 16th century Italian Renaissance. It was her fourth trip to the spelling bee.
N.J. student falls in Bee semfinals
The students representing New Jersey this year are all participating in their first spelling bee. They are:
-- Nabil Ettayebi of Belleville, 13, an eighth grader at Miftaahul Uloom Academy, who won the 57th annual Jersey Journal-Hudson County Spelling Bee.
-- Henry A. Banta of Somerset, 13, an eighth grader at Franklin Middle School.
-- Vivek S. Kolli of Mays Landing, 14, an eighth grader at William Davies Middle School.
-- Rimas Chacar-Palubinskas of Ho-Ho-Kus, 13, an eighth grader at Ho-Ho-Kus Public School.
-- Julian J. Connaughton of Shohola, Pa., 13, a seventh grader at Delaware Valley Middle School sponsored by the Tri-State Spelling Bee Committee in Montague.
-- Justin Kyle Malabanan of Bayville, 14, an eighth grader at Central Regional Middle School.
-- Shruthika Padhy of Cherry Hill, 10, a fifth grader at Bret Harte Elementary School.
The last Garden State student to win the bee was Katharine Close of Spring Lake, in 2006. The 13-year-old correctly spelled ursprache, a language reconstructed from languages that came later.
The last two bees have resulted in co-winners.
The winner will take home $40,000, an engraved trophy, a $2,500 savings bond, a trip to New York City to appear on the morning talk show "Live with Kelly," and other prizes.
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook