The Scripps National Spelling Bee is held annually each spring, and has been for over 80 years. Kids from around America and several foreign nations, including such countries as Ghana, compete for the title of National Spelling Bee Champion. Months and even years of preparation and study go into making students ready for this academic competition. There are many aspects of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Spelling Bee Competitors
Students who compete in the spelling bee cannot have gone past the eighth grade or reached their sixteenth birthday in order to compete. The youngest speller in the 2010 bee was eight years old. Students can reach the national level many times, but once a student has won, he cannot compete again.
Homeschooled students, students from public schools and privately educated students are all eligible for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, provided they have competed through the proper channels.
Scripps National Spelling Bee Competition
The national level is the highest level of competition. However, there are several spelling bees that lead up to the national bee. Classroom and school bees are the first step, after which the individual winners of those bees compete in a county- or city-wide competition. The regional level comes after the county or city bee, and the winner of the regional spelling bee goes on to the national competition.
The national competition is divided up over several days, and one of the first rounds of elimination is the written round. The written round is part of the competition in which all competitors are given the same words by pronouncer Jacques Bailly, and those spellers who miss more than the limit are eliminated.
Competitors at the national level are featured on such networks as ABC and ESPN, which broadcast the finals on live television.
Jacques Bailly
Bailly has been the official pronouncer of the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2003. According to the Scripps National Spelling Bee website, Bailly teaches ancient Greek and Latin and is fluent in both French and German. Bailly won the 1980 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Spelling Bee Prizes
The top speller in the nation receives more than acclaim for her spelling prowess: Scripps and sponsors also award the speller with a $30,000 cash prize, an engraved trophy, a $2,500 savings bond, a $5,000 college scholarship, reference books and software and many other prizes, according to the Scripps National Spelling Bee Website.
Other top spellers receive cash prizes as well.
Preparing for the National Spelling Bee
Students who study seriously for the Scripps National Spelling Bee often spend years learning more than just memorized lists of words. Students often learn foreign languages and study Latin and Green etymology, and study the various parts of words to learn the rules regarding their spelling.
Studying for the spelling bee becomes a full-time occupation for many students, who devote hours each day to learning words, spelling tricks, grammatical forms and foreign languages.
The official source for all words used in the Scripps bee is Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, and Scripps provides a basic spelling booklet to schools and bees at the local level, which is called Spell It!.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is an excellent academic organization that encourages students to perform in a number of ways. The ability to spell is simply one part of competing in a spelling bee, although an intimate knowledge of language and words is paramount. However, stage presence is often overlooked in many of the children who stand comfortably – or nervously – in front of cameras and crowds and spell aloud. The students who compete learn how to handle their fear as well as how to study, and those are skills that benefit students for life.
Bailey Shoemaker Richards - Bailey is a writer from Ohio. She is pursuing a creative writing degree at Ohio University, where she is currently a senior. Bailey ...
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