Clark County library team wins adult spelling bee for 2nd year in a row

The 26th annual Literacy Sting raises money for county literacy groups.

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The Clark County Public Library team won a local adult spelling bee for the second year in a row. The bee raised most of its $10,000 goal — money used to fund literacy groups.

The library’s “Bee A Leader” team including Taylor Smith and Miri Reyes were the winners of Altrusa’s 26th annual Literacy Sting held this week at the Courtyard by Marriott Springfield Downtown.

ExplorePHOTOS: Scenes from Altrusa's 26th Annual Literacy Sting
Miri Reyes, center far left, and Taylor Smith, center left, of "Bee A Leader," take a picture with a group to celebrate winning Altrusa's 26th annual Literacy Sting on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at Springfield Courtyard by Marriott. JOSEPH COOKE/STAFF

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Eleven teams participated in the event, themed “Readers are Leaders - Bee One!”

The two-time winning team won over the second place team Young Woman’s Mission’s “Not So Young Women,” which included Mary Manoloff, Margie Bartley and Lee Ann Ellsworth, after spelling “impugn” and “incandescence” correctly.

“It feels excellent,” Smith said, who was on the winning team last year with two others. “It’s very exciting to win.”

When asked if it was hard, Smith said towards the end of the spelling bee there were some “iffy moments” but for the most part it was alright.

Taylor Smith, left, and Miri Reyes, of "Bee A Leader," laugh at a joke before preparing to spell a word during Altrusa's 26th annual Literacy Sting on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at Springfield Courtyard by Marriott. Their team finished in first place. JOSEPH COOKE/STAFF

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The other teams included Leadership Clark County’s “Leadership Hive” and “Bee A Leader,” CitiLookout’s “Bee-lievers,” Ridgewood School’s “Ridgewords,” Literacy Center’s “Wannabees,” Woman’s Town Club, Covenant Presbyterian Church’s “Pres-Bees,” United Senior Services’ “USS-United Superior Spellers,” and Springfield Masonic Community’s “Springfield Masonic Stinger.”

The first words the teams got to spell were ones related to their business or organization, and then they got tougher from there. A black or yellow balloon was popped when a team got a word wrong and was eliminated from the competition.

Mary Manoloff, center, of "Not So Young Women," spells a word next to LeeAnn Ellsworth, left, and Margie Bartley, during Altrusa's 26th annual Literacy Sting on Monday, September 22, 2025, at Springfield Courtyard by Marriott. Their team finished in second place. JOSEPH COOKE/STAFF

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Almost $10,000 was raised at the event to help area organizations’ literacy efforts, which was their goal.

This event is Altrua’s biggest fundraiser of the year with proceeds benefiting several literacy projects and organizations in Clark County.

Those projects and organizations include: Autumn Trails Stables, Pick-a-Book, H.A.R.D. Acre Farms, Family Needs, Inc., On the Rise, WellSpring, CitiLookout, Promise Neighborhood, Second Harvest Food Bank, Project Jericho at the Clark County Juvenile Court, Springfield City Youth Missions, Fisher House Foundations, Youth Challenges, Oesterlen Services for Youth, Literacy Center, Ridgewood and Park Layne school, Sheltered, Inc., Springfield Arts Council, USOCSO (Military families), Stevie’s World of Wiffleball, and The Gateway.

Previous champions include USS (United Senior Services) in 2023 and WellSpring in 2022.

Altrusa is a nonprofit organization of business and professional women who have a passion for literacy. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/springfieldaltrusa.

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Brooke Spurlock covers education, new businesses, events, county government and more in Clark and Champaign counties as a reporter for the Springfield News-Sun. She has been a writer for over seven years, with a bachelor's in mass communications, minor in psychology and associates in paralegal.