Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY, Utah (AP) -- B-Y-U student Dallin Merrill said he has always had a knack for word games. He breezes through crossword puzzles and usually dominates at Scrabble.
His skill paid off yesterday as Merill took home $10,000 for beating about 200 other contestants at the "Get Schooled" vocabulary contest in Sandy.
The contest tests knowledge of common links among words and requires participants to unscramble anagrams.
Merrill, a Highland Village, Texas, native, entered on a lark, then emerged a winner.
Get Schooled was sponsored by the Game Show Network, Bank of America, Comcast and the Utah Education Association. It was hosted by "American Idol" finalist Kimberley Locke.
The competition is on a nationwide tour to 11 cities to award $135,000 in total prizes.
Merrill will head to Philadelphia at the end of May for a national competition with the 10 other winners. The winner of that competition will receive an additional $25,000 toward college.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
