Photo: Scripps National Spelling Bee
Last week, we briefly discussed spelling bees and how they are generally conducted at the local level. Now, let’s take a look at the premier event: The Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The first National Spelling Bee was held in 1925. Initially, it was formed by a Louisville, Kentucky newspaper, The Courier-Journal. Later, in 1941, the sponsorship of the National Spelling Bee was changed to the Scripps Howard News Service. The name was changed to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, and eventually shortened to Scripps National Spelling Bee.
There continues to be a close relationship between newspapers and the Scripps National Spelling Bee, as many of the spelling bee participants are sponsored by their local newspapers, who may view sponsorship as an opportunity to support education and literacy. According to the official website, the purpose of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is “to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.”
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is held every year in Washington, D.C., at the end of May. This year, the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee will be starting with Round One Test on May 29, and continuing with Preliminaries (May 30) and Semifinals (May 31). The highlight, of course, are the Championship Finals on May 31, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. (The Scripps National Spelling Bee can be viewed on the sports channel ESPN, which has exclusive live coverage rights.) Participants compete for a number of prizes, including a $30,000 cash prize and trophy for the spelling champion.
Who can participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee? There are a number of rules for eligibility, but basically the contest is for students who are in the eighth grade or younger, and are age 15 or younger. This year, the youngest contestant is only 6 years old! However, 84% of this year’s 278 spellers are between the ages of 12 and 14. Students may be from public schools (193 contestants, or 69.4%), private schools (39 contestants, or 14.0%), parochial schools (16 contestants, or 5.8%), charter schools (2 contestants, or 0.7%), or home-schooled (28 contestants, or 10.1%).
2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner Sukanya Roy. Photo: Scripps National Spelling Bee
The winner of the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee was Sukanya Roy. Her winning word was cymotrichous, which means “having wavy hair.”
You can read more about the Scripps National Spelling Bee here.