Thomas County 8th grade student Za'Miriya Sneed survived many rounds of competition to win this year's spelling bee for the county schools.  To narrow down the competition, prior spelling bees were held at Cross Creek Elementary and Thomas County Middle School for students in fourth through eighth grades.

Za'Miriya Sneed walked away a winner after defeating a fifth grade student from the middle school, Brian Smith, who was runner up.

Sneed spelled "hypotenuse" correctly to win the competition consisting of 13 students.  She will compete in the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) District Spelling Bee on February 25 in Bainbridge.