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Matthew Evans is no stranger to national word competitions. At age 12, he has already competed three times in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and will make it a fourth later this month.

But Matthew's verbal virtuosity hadn't won a national competition until today, when he placed first in the Reader's Digest Word Power Challenge in Orlando, Fla.

"Today was exciting," Matthew said in a telephone interview as he waited to go through the security check at the airport in Orlando. He was headed for New York City for a whirlwind media tour.

He should be more talkative on Wednesday when he appears on the "Today Show" on Channel 4 KKOB about 9:20 a.m. Albuquerque time.

Al Roker, Word Power's host, will be talking to Matthew and his mother, Helen Evans.

The home-schooled seventh grader also is to be interviewed by Anderson Cooper to appear on Cooper's show on CNN Wednesday night at 8 p.m.

His winning vocabulary word in the Word Power competition was hegira. It means a journey to a better place, he said.

"It's a word related to Islam," he said. "The hegira is when Mohammed went from Mecca to another city to escape persecution."

He said it was one of the words he'd studied last year for the spelling bee.

As the New Mexico's Word Power champion, Matthew competed with students from all 50 states, U.S. territories and the Department of Defense Schools.

The event asks questions in several formats on vocabulary, including a strict definition, knowledge of the word's antonym, or its proper use in a sentence.

Matthew brings home a $25,000 college scholarship from Reader's Digest.

Matthew is enjoying this win for a few days, then will return to Albuquerque and get back to studying for the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 30 and 31 in Washington, D.C.