SHELBURNE, Vt. -- Something is missing at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.: kids from Vermont.

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It's not that there aren't any good spellers in Vermont, either. Just ask members of the spelling team at the Shelburne Community School.

"I like the competitions when you're put on the spot. And when you get it right, it just feels great," Sarah Parmelee of Shelburne Community School said.

But no matter how well the students do, they can't go to nationals. Without a Vermont sponsor, there's no official state competition.

"I think it really stinks, because going to Washington really gives you a chance to study more and get to know even more words," student Tina Freeman said.

The rules require a local newspaper to organize a bee and pay for the winner to go to the national competition. This year, Utah and Vermont were the only states not sending a speller.

Editors from both the Burlington Free Press and the Rutland Herald said there has not been a call from the community to support a spelling bee.

The Herald underwrites a state bee, but it is a team competition that is not affiliated with nationals.

"I think going to Washington would be a really fun, educational experience for anybody. So, it's kind of unfair that people in other states get to go, and we could go, but we just aren't able to," student Sarah Flickinger said.

That is something the spellers hope to see C-H-A-N-G-E really soon.

Scripps-Howard, who runs the national bee, estimates the cost to local sponsors to between $5,000 and $10,000.

Carrie Elizabeth Pfaff, sponsored by the Watertown (NY) Daily Times And Tim Graf, sponsored by the Union Leader/New Hampshire Sunday News in Manchester, N.H., are the closest competitors to the Champlain Valley.