NATIONAL BIBLE BEE: Champion Is Home Schooled.

      *A home-school teen-ager has won the first National Bible Bee. Daniel Staddon, 18, of Salem, W. VA., recited the first 20 verses of the fifth chapter of Ephesians and the 21 verses of Psalm 145 in the tie-breaker round, winning first place and a $100,000 prize.

      "Dad suggested closing my eyes," Staddon told the Washington Post, adding that his seven siblings helped him study for months for the contest.

      Spelling and math competitions have long brought young people to national stages to test their skills and prodigious memories. More than 17,000 students ages 7 to 18 participated in the inaugural National Bible Bee. Twenty-one students made it to the finals through regional and state competitions.

     The Bible bee, which required the mastery of six books of the Bible, was inspired by Shelby Kennedy, a Texas woman who died at 23 of a rare form of cancer in 2005.