Her mother felt otherwise. "I've always wanted her to be in a spelling bee," said Diane Campbell. "I knew she could spell."

Turns out, Dionne sold herself short and mother knows best.

The eighth-grader won the system's annual spelling bee at Gainesville Middle School, beating out 12 other participants. She now advances to the district competition set for March 1 at North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee.

"I'm still in disbelief," the 13-year-old told the school's Red Alert news crew. "I'm proud of myself. I didn't think I could do it, but I guess I did."

The winning word was "montage." Moments after she was declared the winner, her mother punched the air and went to her daughter, giving her a hug.

The moment turned into pure emotion, as Dionne stood sobbing as her mother held her.

Afterward, Diane credited her daughter's success to a love of reading.

"She has always read way above her grade level," she said.

When Dionne was in the fourth grade, she scored on the 12th-grade level in reading on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, her mother said.

Dionne did catch one lucky break in the competition.

Judges threw out her misspelling of "Napoleon" because the rules applying to competition between the final two participants hadn't been read to her and the runner-up, Nick Tsikerdanos.

Tsikerdanos, last year's runner-up, tripped this year on "sorcerer." Dionne spelled that correctly, then "montage."

If Dionne wins the district competition, she will advance to the March 21 state competition at Georgia State University in Atlanta. County winner Dezirae Archuleta, East Hall Middle seventh-grader, also will compete.

The state winner will move on to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee set for May 25-30 in Washington, D.C.