After an eventful weekend, the Sabah and Sarawak state winners of the RHB-NST Spell-It-Right Challenge are slowly but surely getting ready for the national championship in August, writes NURJEHAN MOHAMED

In Kuching, Isaac Chung, 8, (front) of SRK Chung Hua No. 4, became the youngest contestant in the SIR Challenge. His mates, (from left) Macpherson Tan, 11, Lau Zhi Ming, 11, and Gabriel Chia, 10, gamely rallied around him to make up their own Gang of Four for the contest. Chung survived two rounds but didn’t make the final. He’ll be trying again next year

Yeo greets the cheers of her classmates and teachers on clinching a berth in the national finals to be held in Kuala Lumpur this August

IT's back to business as usual for the Sabah and Sarawak state champions of the inaugural RHB-New Straits Times Spell-It-Right Challenge.

After an exciting weekend, fifth-former Rick Daeg Langet from SMK Batu Lintang and 12-year-old Vanessa Yeo from SRK Green Road, Kuching, Sarawak, are hunkering down for their examinations, with spelling taking a back-seat.

“I will probably spend a few minutes flipping through the dictionary before going to sleep,” says Langet.

His dictionaries of choice are an old Oxford and the Longman Advanced Learner’s.

With the national finals in August still some months away, Langet's focus now returns to his upcoming SPM examinations.

“Right now, I can only hope for the best,” he says. “I don't know what I can achieve.” SMK Batu Lintang teacher Anita Wee, who taught Langet in his earlier years at the school, is proud of the 17-year-old.

“Our school actively participates in English Language events such as drama and debates,” Wee says. “We are the reigning champion in public speaking.” SIR Challenge primary school champion Yeo says she will be looking out for new words to learn — not too much of a stretch from her normal routine: “I like reading,” she says, though she has no particular favourite authors or stories.

Yeo’s mother Marilyn Rumi, 42, a businesswoman, encourages her to read more books and newspapers. “I am also helping her learn 10 new words a day,” she adds.

Langet’s win was a nail-biting battle with Farrah Ping Dahim from SMK St Teresa, who took home the second prize, and Nur Syamimi Mustapa from SMK Sains Kuching, who came in third.

On her part, Yeo’s nervousness in the state final did not stop her from coming out triumphant against SK Jln Ong Tiang Swee's Laura Dee Dee Cotter and SK St Mary’s Nurlinah Lim Geok Siu, who came in second and third respectively.

Chief judge and NST associate editor Rehman Rashid says the overall quality of the contest was “remarkably high”.

“Consistency turned out to be decisive,” he says. “Some students could get words I thought were very difficult, then fail on something apparently simpler.” But the course of the contest proved an effective leveller, he says, and the better students went the furthest.

Langet and Yeo will represent their state at the National Challenge in Kuala Lumpur in August.