Spelling Bee

A spelling bee is a competition in which contestants have to spell words correctly. If a word isn't correctly spelled, the person is eliminated from the competition. The last person to correctly spell a word wins. Spelling bees are generally conducted according to age and grade level. There are various types of spelling bees, held locally in a school, regionally and nationally.

The Scripps Spelling Bee is the most widely recognized bee in the united states. It is held annually in Washington, D.C. Students prepare for local spelling bees using a provided by Scripps and Merriam-Webster. To advance to the Scripps bee, contestants must win local spelling bees. Any student who is not past eighth grade and who is under the age of 16 and who attend schools that are enrolled with the Scripps progam may qualify for the bee.

The first reference to the term "spelling bee" came in April 1850 in New-York Monthly Magazine. Their popularity in the United States was partly due to literacy being encouraged and to the use of Noah Webster's American Spelling Book, which was first published in 1783.http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/spelling-bee.html

The first national spelling bee was held in 1925. It was taken over by Scripps in 1941 but was not held during the war years of 1943 - 1945. The bee was televised for the first time in 1946 by NBC. There were co champions in 1950, 1957 and 1962. In 1974 and 1977 PBS showed the finals on prime time. From 1994 through 2009 the finals were telecast on ESPN and from 2006 through 2009 the finals were telecast live in ABC. The Scripps National Spelling Bee has had 85 champions, 44 have been girls and 41 have been boys.http://www.spellingbee.com/history

The finals of the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee took place on June 4. There were 273 contestants, which was the largest number in the history of the event. The contestants ranged from 8 to 15 years of age, but 80 percent of them were between 12 and 14. Vanya Shivashankar, the sister of last year's champion, Kavya Shivashankar, was the youngest contestant in the event. Nearly half of the contestants spoke languages other than English and 21 contestants were non native English speakers.http://www.spellingbee.com/

Eight finalists competed on ABC. Anamika Veeramani, an eighth grade student from Incarnate Word Academy in North Royalton, Ohio, won.http://public.spellingbee.com/public/results/2010/finishers/html