Backed by a new corporate sponsor, it appears the Mississippi Spelling Bee is on solid footing, a remarkable turn-around from this time two years ago, when the state spelling bee was in jeopardy after losing its long-time financial sponsor.

The C Spire Foundation Mississippi Spelling Bee will be held at Mississippi University for Women on March 2. Mississippi Spelling Bee Coordinator Lois Kappler said the bee is looking to raise $8,000 before Nov. 15 for production costs and to help send winning spellers to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Kappler said currently there are 183 schools registered to participate in the spelling bee competition across the state, though enrollment doesn’t close until Nov. 30.

That’s a far cry from where the state spelling bee found itself in November 2021.

Columbus can take pride in its collective effort to keep the spelling bee going, for without those efforts it is unlikely the state would have been represented at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2022, and perhaps in subsequent years.

Mississippi would have been alone among the 50 states and the District of Columbia not to have a presence at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. It would have been unthinkable given a state literary tradition that has produced some of the best novelists, playwrights and poets ever to put pen to paper.

It is fitting that Columbus, which claims two of those literary giants — novelist Eudora Welty and playwright Tennessee Williams — played an essential role in the survival of the state spelling bee.

There was no single person or group responsible for saving the spelling bee. Columbus-Lowndes Chamber president Wilson Beck first sounded the alarm and the chamber went to work assembling all the needed elements on a very tight schedule, just a few months.

The Dispatch agreed to be the primary fiscal sponsor. Mississippi University for Women agreed to host both the county and state spelling bees. WCBI took over broadcasting the state bee from Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The 2022 state spelling bee went off without a hitch, with Jessica Widodo of Starkville winning the state title and going on to represent Mississippi in the national spelling bee.

In 2023, The Dispatch again provided sponsorship while also leading a community fundraising effort that produced $16,500 in funding for the event, this year sending two Mississippi representatives to D.C.

Now, with a non-profit formed to ensure the bee lives on and the financial backing of C Spire, it appears the crisis has somewhat passed.

Yet every cause needs a champion, someone to manage the details and rally support and keep the momentum going.

That is why, we think of those who played a role in saving our state spelling bee, Kappler stands apart. Kappler, a retired educator, stepped into the breach to fill the role as the spelling bee’s state coordinator with no prior experience with the bee, organizing the 2022 state spelling bee on the fly. For those efforts, she was recognized by the national spelling bee.

Kappler’s continuing presence as state coordinator is sure to keep the organizational end of the state bee on track, another reason that the future of the state spelling bee seems secure.

The C Spire Foundation takes over as presenting sponsor this year, opening a new chapter of the state spelling bee. MUW will again host the event, so the Columbus connection endures, as does the spelling bee itself.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.

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