The Bridgeport Middle School community gives Belmont County Spelling Bee winner Lyrik Brown a sendoff for his trip to the nation’s capital. Shown from left are Superintendent Brent Ripley; Lisa Stupak of East Central Ohio Educational Service Center; teacher Amy Vavrock; Lyrik’s father Mark Brown; Lyrik; brother Brode Brown; mother Valani Brown; grandmother Diane Brown; Amber Toriseva of the ECOESC; Principal Anne Haverty Lawson; and Joe Lovell, special events coordinator for The Times Leader.

BRIDGEPORT — Despite the fact that there will be no in-person Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., this year, Belmont County’s spelling champ will still visit the nation’s capital.

The National Spelling Bee is taking a new format this year due to the COVID. There will be no in-person competition. The competition will be held in virtual segments. First, is the competition Preliminaries from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. June 12, broadcast on ESPN 3. Students who qualified for the National Spelling Bee will be involved in this first virtual round of the competition.

Belmont County champion Lyrik Brown will compete virtually at Bridgeport Middle School. He will receive a competition word to spell in round 1. If he is correct, he will immediately move on to round 2, which will be a word meaning round. If correct, Lyrik will then move on to Round 3 with a word to spell once again. If any word is incorrect, Lyrik will be eliminated from the competition.

Those spellers who successfully complete the preliminary rounds on June 12 will advance to the Quarterfinals from noon to 6 p.m. June 15. Additional rounds will be held with round 4 being a spelling word, round 5 being a word meaning, and round 6 being a spelling word. Spellers successful in all three rounds will advance to the Semifinals from 7-11 p.m. June 27.

Scripps plans to narrow it down to approximately 10-12 spellers to advance to the Finals on July 8.

They will compete in person at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. A virtual Awards Ceremony scheduled for July 11.

Meanwhile, Lyrik and his family will travel to Washington, D.C., courtesy of Belmont County Spelling Bee sponsors, including The Times Leader, Bordas and Bordas, Belmont Savings Bank, Airport Limousine, Uniglobe Ohio Valley Travel and the East Central Ohio Education Service Center.