Saturday’s Sunflower Spelling Bee will be a battle of champions, with the winners receiving medals, scholarships and other prizes, including the grand prize of a trip to the week-long national bee in Washington, D.C.

Two former champions of the Great Bend Tribune’s Sunflower Spelling Bee will be back — 2010 winner Matthew Wegner from Parsons and 2009 winner Clara Wicoff from Iola — but all 80 of the contestants registered for the bee had to be declared champions of their home counties to make it this far, said Tribune Publisher Mary Publisher Mary Hoisington.

"Nearly 50,000 students competed in this year’s program," Hoisington said. In counties throughout the state, these students participated in classroom bees or school-wide spelling competitions before going on to regional or county bees.

Those champions will report to the Fine Arts Building at Barton Community College on Saturday morning. Practice rounds will start at 11 a.m., and the competition begins at 1 p.m. in the auditorium. The public is invited to watch all rounds.

The students, all in grades 4-8, will be competing for some great prizes. Saturday’s champion will win a trip to the week-long Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., for the speller and an escort; the Sunflower Spelling Bee champion trophy; a $200 Savings Bond and more. All of the prizes are listed on page 4 of the official program, included in Friday's issue of the Tribune.