The top spellers from eight Chilton County schools will put their skills to the test Monday in the 2010 county spelling bee.

The bee will be held at Jefferson State Community College in Clanton at 9 a.m. One winner and one alternate will each receive a trophy, and the first-place winner will advance to the state spelling bee in March.

“This is the first year in several years that we’ve had all schools represented,” said Adriane Dennis, Chilton County Spelling Bee coordinator.

Participating will be students who won their respective school spelling bees.

Each will receive a medallion for his or her accomplishments. Monday’s competitors are listed as follows:

Mabrey Millard — Clanton Intermediate fifth grader; parents are Andy and Christy Millard

Sarah Franklin — Clanton Middle seventh grader; parents are Kenneth and Cynthia Franklin

Donovan Cleckley — Isabella seventh grader; parents are Robert and Vicki Cleckley

Justin Macks — Jemison Elementary fourth grader; parents are Rebecca and Rusty Macks

Maggie Zhang — Jemison Middle seventh grader; parent is Bi Wen Wang

Tyler Williams — Maplesville fifth grader; parents are Shane and Brandy Williams

Jarrett Price — Thorsby fourth grader; parents are Frankie and Pam Price

Christian Agee — Verbena seventh grader; parent is Ginger Agee

Franklin, the winner of the 2009 Chilton County Spelling Bee, is returning again to compete this year.

All words are selected by the Scripps National Spelling Bee based in Washington, D.C. When a word is given, the speller may request language of origin, definition and part of speech.

Pronouncing words this year will be Chilton County’s own Sally Pitts.

“We would love for more people from the community to attend,” Dennis said.