Ethan Keenan wins Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee for Qld

The South Burnett has another claim to fame after an 11-year-old took out the Queensland section of the Australian Prime Minister’s nation-wide spelling competition, beating almost 26,000 competitors.

Taabinga State School captain Ethan Keenan has been named Queensland’s best speller after placing fourth in Australia for his age group in the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee.

More than 26,000 Year 5 and 6 students competed in the spelling bee, including 11 students from the Taabinga State School.

Eleven-year-old Ethan said he was not aware of his special talent before entering the competition.

“I didn’t really think I was that good at spelling, I just signed up and gave it a go,” he said.

Ethan Keenan and Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington. Photo: Deb Frecklington office.

Ethan began in the school round, then a state competition and then at the national level.

“At the start I just thought it was kids from the South Burnett area, turned out to the be bigger than I thought,” he said,

“The whole competition was online in the school computer lab. I had 3-5 seconds to type each word.”

Ethan’s mother Elizabeth Keenan said Taabinga State School held a parade in honour of Ethan and fellow students who competed at state level.

“The school librarian organised a really nice parade for the children who entered the competition and he was mentioned in the school assembly,” she said.

Mrs Keenan said she was very proud of her son and always knew he had a love for words.

“Since he was little he has always watched TV with subtitles and loves reading fantasy fiction,” she said.

“He had to spell astigmatism, a word he had never heard before. From reading so much he probably has seen words before he actually knows what they mean.”

Deb Frecklington and Ethan Keenan with his parents Elizabeth and Andrew Keenan. Photo: Deb Frecklington office.

Nanango MP Deb Frecklington awarded Ethan with a certificate and a prize for his outstanding efforts in the competition.

Mrs Frecklington said the words he had to spell included ‘rickety’ and ‘despondent’ in the competition where he scored 28 out of 30 and completed the test in just 1.56 minutes.

“He is a very clever young man and I look forward to following his progress in the future,” she said.

Ethan said he had a keen interest in aviation and engineering which he hoped to one day study at university.

“Over the school holidays I plan to eat, sleep, read and repeat,” he said.