Jazz Duncan can count herself among the top five spellers in the state this year, a rare distinction for an eighth grader. 

The Memorial Middle School student placed fifth today in the quest for the title of Georgia Spelling Bee champion and a chance to head to the Scripps' National Spelling Bee.

The word that stopped her rise was "illusoriness," meaning deceptive or having the nature of an illusion.

Her mother Heather Duncan said Jazz felt she did really well.

"The bee this year demanded that the spellers dig deep into their knowlege of languages and the rules that apply to the languages," said Heather. "I was very excited because there were true spellers on the stage. And to say the least, I am proud that my daughter stood amongst them."

This was Duncan's third trip to the state bee.

This year's participants were:

District/Area/ Name & Grade/ School & Age . W = winner, R = runner up

1 W / Rome City/ John Knauss 6 / West End Elementary 11
1 R / Gilmer Tyler/ Queen 8 / Clear Creek Middle 14

2 W / Cobb/ Jules/ McNeice 8 / Dickerson Middle 12
2 R / Cobb/ Aanya Sawhney 5 / East Side Elementary 11

3 W / Gwinnett/ Karl Patram 8 / Alton C. Crews Middle 13
3 R/ Gwinnett/ Rohan Ramdeholl 7 / North Gwinnett Middle 12

4 W / Decatur/ City Lua Adwet Samandari 5 / 4/5 Academy 11
4 R / Paulding/ Maddie Moore 6 / Moses Middle 11

5 W / Rockdale/ Jazz Duncan 8 / Memorial Middle 13
5 R / Henry/ Kathleen Mabutin 6 / Locust Grove Middle 11

6 W / Bibb/ Junus K. Searcy 7 / Rutland Middle 13
6 R / Muscogee/ Pooja Prabakaran 8 / Blackmon Road Middle 13

7 W / Clarke/ Theron Camp 5 / Barrow Elementary 11
7 R / Dodge/ John Roberts 8 / Dodge County Middle 13

8 W/Chatham/ Uche Chukwukere 8 / Oglethorpe Charter 13
8 R / Tattnall/ Hannah Creighton 7 / Glennville Middle 12

9 W / Colquitt/ Jett Kiminas 5 / Sunset Elementary 10
9 R /Early/ Davia Allen 5 / Early County Elementary 10

GISA – W Atlanta/ Apurva Routhu 8 / Woodward Academy 13
GISA - R/ Gwinnett/ Nicholas Poulos 7/ Wesleyan School 13

*Georgia Independent School Association (GISA)

Today's Georgia Association of Educators' State Spelling Bee champion will represent the state in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., May 28-30.

Judges for this year's state bee were:

· Mr. Barry Gray, Principal, Slaton Properties, LLC
· Mr. Arthur George, Retired Educator, Fulton County Schools
· Ms. Cheryl Sarvis, Retired Principal, Atlanta City Schools
· Ms. Ernestine C. Mack, Retired, DeKalb District Attorney’s Office

Callers for this year's state bee are:

· Ms. Lyn Vaughn Vann, Special Projects Producer/Host, Office of Broadcast/Cable, FGTV (Fulton Gov.)
Dr. Philo Hutcheson, Chair, Educational Leadership, Policy, and Technology Studies Department, College of Education, The University of Alabama