Contest Winners
The winning entries from our Root Challenge Contest 2023 that ended on October 20, 2023.
5-8th Grade Winners
-
$200 Gift Card
catacratphobia
The fear of a government run by cats.I realized my brother had a severe case of catacratphobia when I joked that the neighbor’s cat should run for president, and he screamed with terror and ran away.
Teacher: Adrianne Cornwell
Monarch PK8 -
$200 Gift Card
pseudospector
A person who sees fake things.Lay Lay is a pseudospector because she always claims to see things that never happened.
Teacher: Evelyn Smith
North Panola Middle School -
$200 Gift Card
absfergeist
To carry one's spirit from them.My sister made me feel absfergeisted as she mocked the way I performed in my soccer game.
Teacher: Mary Gates
St. Albert the Great Parish School -
$50 Gift Card
pelequate
To push somebody to have an equal quality as somebody or something else.Because she admired my sister's tireless work ethic, my mother pelequated me to adopt habits similar to my sister.
Teacher: Colleen Tang
Wellesley Middle School -
$50 Gift Card
equanonophobia
Fear of things not being equal.If you have equanonophobia, you should learn how to accept that things aren't always perfect, fair, or symmetric.
Teacher: Melissa Call
Oakwood School -
$50 Gift Card
retrotempify
To make time go backwards; to imagine time going backwards.In the movie "Back to the Future," the characters are required to retrotempify with a time machine.
Teacher: Amy Johnson
Asheville Christian Academy -
$50 Gift Card
anthroposcriphile
A person who is a lover of writing.My friends call me an anthroposcriphile; I’m never able to finish one story before starting another!
Teacher: Elizabeth Olson
Saint Simons Christian School -
$50 Gift Card
temporique
Describes something that is timeless and uniquely tied to a specific era.The fashion designer's creations had a temporique quality, blending vintage with modern.
Teacher: Jenny Holden
Carrollwood Day School -
$50 Gift Card
lunaspectiphile
Being one who is fond of watching or observing the moon.After my cousin Levi finished his project about the phases of the Moon, he became a gigantic lunaspectiphile.
Teacher: Madelyn Rios
South Tahoe Middle School -
$50 Gift Card
converbify
Making a word by bringing other words together.Mia's teacher told the class to converbify if they had extra time in class.
Teacher: Michelle Bestor
Stewartville Middle School
9-12th Grade Winners
-
$200 Gift Card
ludocracy
A government where everything is decided by games and chance.The ludocracy decided on the new laws by a coin flip.
Teacher: Hope Boswell
Brookstone School -
$200 Gift Card
precentiphobia
The fear of numbers less than one hundred.Brian, suffering from precentiphobia, was relieved to see that the test questions were lettered, not numbered.
Teacher: Emily Kearney
Cincinnati Christian Schools -
$200 Gift Card
spirard
To breathe fire, burn with breath.The dragon spirarded the town and left it in ruins.
Teacher: Lily Anderson
Greenbrier Christian Academy -
$50 Gift Card
nonconverbalist
Someone who is unable to create new words.William Shakespeare, who created over seventeen-thousand words of the modern English language, is anything but a nonconverbalist!
Teacher: Jaime Carroll
Mount Carmel Academy -
$50 Gift Card
unequigate
The scandal or controversy that arises from the realization of previously unknown inequality.After it was revealed that Mr. Davis had graded the golf players uniformly lower than others on the final, the resulting unequigate caused his position to be reconsidered by the administration.
Teacher: Jesse McFeron
Bishop Blanchet High School -
$50 Gift Card
biblioegotist
A person or individual who uses books as a status symbol rather than something to be read.Todd is such a biblioegotist - just look at the James Joyce on his shelves!
Teacher: Stephanie Arnold
The Steward School -
$50 Gift Card
egoagon
Struggling with one's self.As a teenager, it is common for one to feel a sense of egoagon.
Teacher: Jacqueline Loughry
New Albany High School -
$50 Gift Card
disequinoxify
The process of making something uneven or causing an imbalance.After the earthquake, the once-level ground was disequinoxified, leaving a landscape of hills and valleys.
Teacher: Catherine Cooper
Holy Cross School -
$50 Gift Card
circumfluctant
The state of water flowing in a circle.After spinning the contents of my cauldron, the concoction became circumfluctant and pulled me into its whimsical vortex shape, which was now a myriad of colors.
Teacher: Heather Dykes
Sunnyvale High School -
$50 Gift Card
ultrafusify
The process of merging different things to an extreme degree.The scientists had discovered a new process called ultrafusifying which allowed them to merge unprecedented amounts of energy sources solving the world power issue.
Teacher: Sarah Brown
Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy
International Winner
We're thrilled to welcome our international schools to our contests for the first time ever. So for this contest we've introduced an exclusive prize category for our global students!
-
$200 Gift Card
inequification
The process of introducing or increasing the extremity of inequality within a system, organization, or society, often resulting from biases in politics, or decisions.The researchers found that the inequification of educational opportunities had a severe impact on the future opportunities of less privileged students, emphasizing the need for a reform of the system.
Teacher: Julie Baxter
International School of Busan
Differentiated vocabulary for your students is just a click away.