Clearfield leads the press to convince politicians at the NPC spelling bee

Alex Clearfield spelled a word he had never heard before – “gnathic” – to lead a team of journalists to victory over a group of lawmakers in the National Press Club’s “Press vs. Politicians” spelling contest on Thursday night.

The meaning of the word – of or relating to the jaw – gave Clearfield a clue as to how it should be composed.

“I thought it had a silent ‘g’ because the word ‘gnaw’ has a silent ‘g’ and that has to do with the jaw,” said Clearfield, a former CQ Roll Call reporter who is now deputy team leader for government litigation at Bloomberg Law. “It seemed like a word that would have a silent ‘g’ out of nowhere. I don’t think they would give something that simple at the end if it was just nathic.”

Clearfield and Democratic Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. of Virginia were the last two candidates vying for victory, with their media and political teammates dropping out after two wrong words.

Beyer, a former champion, also had to grapple with new words to get to the final round. One of his biggest challenges of the evening was “uliginous,” which means “growing on wet or swampy ground.”

“This is the first time I’ve heard that word,” Beyer said before spelling it correctly.

Beyer was part of the team of politicians that also included Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Chris Pappas (DN.H.) and Hillary Scholten (D-Michigan). Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-Illinois) was also scheduled to run, but had to drop out due to illness.

In addition to Clearfield, the press team included Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post, Alison Fitzgerald Kodjak of ProPublica, Jessica Mendoza of the Wall Street Journal, Ben Nuckols of the Associated Press and Emily Wilkins of CNBC, who is also president of the National Press Club.

The club’s spelling bee began in 1913 with a contest attended by President Woodrow Wilson. The tradition was revived in 2013 by the club’s team of young members.

The event, organized with help from the Scripps National Spelling Bee, raises funds for the NPC Journalism Institute, the club’s nonprofit arm that offers training and scholarships and advocates for press freedom.

Contestants showed off their spelling skills – or lack thereof – before an audience of about 250 people in the club’s ballroom. One of the judges was this year’s Scripps Bee winner, Bruhat Soma.

One reason this year’s bidding war will be remembered is that it took place on the same night as the first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. It was imperative to end the contest before the rivals turned on each other.

“Gnathic” wasn’t the only unusual word Clearfield was confronted with. He also had to come up with the spelling of “waterzooi,” a stew from Belgium.

When the judges gave him “waterzooi,” Clearfield replied with a serious expression, “Really?” He received laughter and applause from the audience, then found his rhythm to spell it correctly.

But in this case the word was familiar to him.

“This is going to sound really nerdy, but I watch a lot of videos on YouTube about Scrabble and I saw one recently about a game where someone was playing Waterzooi and it just stuck with me,” said Clearfield, who had his own section of fans waving homemade signs.

This was the second competition Clearfield entered and the second he won. He also won a competition when he attended Voorhees Middle School in New Jersey.

“I never thought I would enter a competition again in my life,” said Clearfield. “And then a few months ago I was invited to enter this. I thought to myself: you know what, I’m good at spelling. I write for a living. I’m an editor. How hard can that be? And the answer is: pretty hard.”

Full disclosure: The author was neutral as to whether the press or politicians won the competition, but he is a huge supporter of the club as he is the organization’s membership secretary.