More than 500 medals have been awarded, one for every North Idaho child who has had the courage and the skill to stand up in front of big crowds and spell for all they're worth.

Hard to believe, but tomorrow, when the 52 champions of their respective districts and classifications gather to compete at North Idaho College, it will mark the 10th anniversary of the North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee.

Ten years. It doesn't seem possible, yet we remember just over a decade ago when Glenda Armstrong asked to meet with the Press editorial board to float an idea. Float an idea? During lunch at Dockside, Glenda applied a March Madness-like full-court press in driving home the notion that the community's newspaper should sponsor a spelling bee, with its annual winner advancing to the national competition. Press Publisher Jim Thompson had little choice but to agree, and with tremendous assistance from then-President Michael Burke of North Idaho College, the regional bee was born.

While The Press pays the freight, spending thousands of dollars every year to send the winner and a chaperone to Washington, D.C., it is our friends at NIC who do the heaviest lifting. Burke handed the torch to Priscilla Bell, who handed it to new NIC President Joe Dunlap. Through the years, NIC has committed extensive staff time from its community relations department, particularly with Stacy Hudson and Mindy Patterson in charge of communications and at times mind-boggling coordination involving many thousands of students in the state's five northernmost counties.

Reaching this milestone is more a tribute to the extraordinary efforts of NIC personnel, including the volunteer faculty and students who always pull off a masterful show on competition day, than anything this newspaper's managers have done. While both of our organizations have been challenged by increased demands on staff time and the effects of a very difficult recession, we've proven to be a very good team in presenting an opportunity for growth and enlightenment for our region's children.

To our partners at NIC, we offer our most profound gratitude. Each year we crown a winning speller, but in the grand scheme of things you're the champ.

Regional winners

2004: Max Keister, Sixth Grade, Home School District, of Post Falls

2005: Matt Harlow, Eighth Grade, Canfield Middle School, Coeur d'Alene School District

2006: Rachel Pinkerton, Sixth Grade, Home School District, of Coeur d'Alene

2007: Gabriel Cheeley, Seventh Grade, Home School District, of Post Falls

2008: Rachel Pinkerton, Eighth Grade, Home School District, of Coeur d'Alene

2009: Sabrina Smith, Seventh Grade, Christian Center School, Private School District

2010: Sabrina Smith, Eighth Grade, Christian Center School, Private School District

2011: Rebekah Pinkerton, Fifth Grade, Home School District, of Coeur d'Alene

2012: Sarah-Jessica Sedy, Eighth Grade, Woodland Middle School, Coeur d'Alene School District

2013: ?