BY Doug Sanders Jr.
News Correspondent
Anthony Thai, a seventh grader from Aliceville High School, correctly spelled the words “depots” and “parachute” on Feb. 6 to win the 2026 Pickens County Spelling Bee.
Six students from Pickens County gathered at the Central Office of the Pickens County Board of Education, along with a large crowd, on that Friday for the event. Thai will now go on to the state level to represent Pickens County at the UAB campus in Birmingham on March 22. Runner-up of the bee was Maddox Junkin, a fifth grader from Gordo Elementary School. Junkin also was the runner-up of the 2025 county bee.
Other contestants were Genesis Hill, a fourth grader, Tim Sutton, a member of Alabama Cemetery Preservation Alliance, and Rachel Huff, a fourth grader from Aliceville Elementary School; Avery White, an eighth grader from Gordo High School; Nickalus Lanier, an eighth grader from Pickens County High School; and Am- bryanna Abrams, a fourth grader from Re- form Elementary School.
The welcome and the rules were explained by Ashley Patten, Pickens County Spelling Bee Coordinator.
The pronouncer was retired Pickens County Herald Editor and Publisher Doug Sanders Jr. Judges were Chan Mul- lenix, Associate Superintendent of Education, and Phyllis McClure, retired Aliceville Elementary School Librarian.
Some of the tougher words in the bee, which went through 54 words, were deflated, sinister, rummage, mosque, prestigious, colossus, sporadic, pizzeria, and invincible. Gail Beams, representing Alabama One Credit Union, presented checks to the top two spellers.
See complete story in the Pickens County Herald.
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