By Amanda Tan

DANIEL Tan, 12, breezed through the spelling of 'colossus' and 'indemnity', emerging as champion at the second National Spelling Championships (NSC).

He took two hours to bag top spot yesterday, during one event of the third annual Language Arts Festival.

The Primary 6 pupil from Nan Hua Primary School beat 23 others from 21 schools, and credited his win to 'hard work' - that is, spending two hours a week for the past three months memorising more than 20 pages of words used in a previous competition, which he culled from the Internet.

Associate Editor of The Straits Times Bertha Henson, who was the guest of honour at the NSC, was impressed.

'I thought they were quite good,' she said. 'A lot of the words were quite tough. I wouldn't think a primary school kid would be able to grapple with that.'

Other highlights at the festival, organised by the Ministry of Education's Gifted Education Branch, included game booths and workshops on storytelling, poetry and creative writing.

There was also an essay writing competition called INKPressions! and an Inter-school Debate Championship, as well as a media literacy workshop conducted by The Straits Times' Little Red Dot journalist Malini Kaseenathan.

The session gave pupils an insight into the interviewing and writing techniques used in newspaper reporting.

Marcus Choo, 10, a Henry Park Primary School pupil, said he had found it 'fun'.

'It was very interesting learning the basics on how to become a journalist,' he said.

The day-long event, aimed mainly at Primary 4 pupils who are exceptionally proficient in English, this year drew an estimated 1,200 pupils from more than 140 schools.

Madam Elaine Yee, a gifted education officer, said that through the event, pupils could 'learn from the professionals in the field'.

Parents interested in getting their children's schools to subscribe to Little Red Dot or IN should direct teachers to call Candy Chew on 6319-2306 or e-mail cirschool@sph.com.sg for more information.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.