LOXLEY, Ala. — Convivial…Elocution…Polypeptide…Narcoleptic.

That’s a sample of the words 34 Baldwin County students in grades 3-8 had to spell correctly on Thursday night at the annual Baldwin County Spelling Bee held at the Loxley Civic Center.

In front of a packed house and after 19 rounds, 7th grader Andrew Williams, son of Sherri and Tom Williams of Loxley, from Central Baldwin Middle School won with the word “interrogative”.

Anthony Heyer, 8th grader from Summerdale School, was the runner-up and Alanna Weist of Bayshore Christian came in third place.

Williams and Heyer both received big winners’ trophies while all other contestants received smaller trophies from Dr. Pam Henson, Director of Instructional Support for Baldwin County Schools.

Judges for the bee were Ms. Marjorie Ard, owner of Ard’s Printing in Robertsdale, Rev. Jim Bachelor of Robertsdale United Methodist Church and Ms. Rhonda Stringham of Baldwin County Schools. The pronouncer was Phyllis Campbell, a retired English teacher from the Baldwin County Schools.

Giving the students’ instruction and encouragement before the bee began, Linda Noble, Spelling Bee coordinator and Elementary Supervisor, thanked everyone for coming to the bee.

“All of you are winners. Good luck and be good spellers. Feel good about yourselves and your accomplishments,” Noble said.

Each contestant had to spell one word per round and could ask for the definition, for the word to be used in a sentence, language of origin and part of speech.

Refreshments for the participants and their families were provided by the Loxley United Methodist Women’s Group after the competition and sponsors for the bee were: Baldwin County Association of Professional Educators (trophies), Coca-Cola Bottling Company (Drinks), Loxely Civic Center (facilities), Loxley Optimist Club (cake) and The Little Cake Shop (cake).