One letter short last year, Darian King returns to win Eastern Agency spelling bee
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Darian King, an eighth grader at T'iis Ts'ozi Bi'Olta', holds up his placard during the Navajo Times-Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority Eastern Agency Spelling Bee. King won the eighth-grade competition.
By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times
CROWNPOINT – In his last attempt to qualify for the Navajo Times-Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority Final Regional Spelling Bee, T’iis Ts’ozi Bi’Olta’ eighth-grader Darian King was looking for redemption.
King, 15, emerged as one of the champions at the Eastern Agency Spelling Bee, held Thursday at the Crownpoint Office of the Diné Youth Complex. This year’s bee is sponsored by the Navajo Times and NECA of Shiprock.
King outlasted eight peers to win the agency title. A year ago, he misspelled “inkling” in the preliminary round as a seventh grader. He spelled the first six letters correctly before omitting the “g.”
“I feel happy and relieved because it was pretty scary up there,” King said. “What kept going through my mind was ‘I-N-K-L-I-N.’ I lost the spelling bee last year and I was pretty bummed about it because I panicked on an easy word.”
To read the full article, please see the Feb. 12, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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