GT Academy School Spelling Bee Official Rules
In order to participate in the GT Academy Spelling Bee on Friday, January 13th, students must read and
sign the back of this contract indicating that they are aware of and accept the rules of the spelling bee.
Parents are welcome to attend the GT Academy Spelling Bee. It will begin at 1:40 p.m. in the
commons. Students participating in the Spelling Bee will report to the commons at the end of 4th period
(advisory schedule). Students must be present by 1:30 p.m. in order to compete.
1. Students participating in the spelling bee must return this contract to Mr. Bernhart (room 301) on or
before Tuesday, January 10th, with their name and their signature in the designated areas on the back
of this page. No walk-ons or late registrations will be accepted the day of the competition.
2. Spelling Bee Qualifying Round will occur after school on Tuesday, January 10th in rooms 304/306.
Only students registered for the bee may participate in the qualifying round. Students must participate
in the qualifying round in order to be eligible for competition in the Academy Spelling Bee on Friday,
January 13th. Students will be given 25 words to spell in a spelling test type format. The top 25
spellers will be selected for the Academy Spelling Bee. This number may increase in the event that
many students have the same score on the qualifying test.
3. All students will be lined up in alphabetical order prior to the start of the spelling bee. All words
for the GT Academy Spelling Bee will be given in order from a preassembled list of spelling
words created by the sponsors of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The words are assembled in
lists according to difficulty. All students in each round will receive words rated at the same
difficulty level according to the Scripts sponsors. Please note that there is always some degree of
luck inherent in a spelling bee competition. Each competitor’s personal experiences differ and
make it possible they will be more familiar with some words and less with others. Some
beginning words rated at the same difficulty level may seem more difficult to some participants
than others. Since the list is preassembled and organized by the national sponsors, the perceived
difficulty level of any words drawn by students is not a subject for debate and is not grounds for a
complaint. Any arguments about word draws will be grounds for expulsion from the competition
to be determined by the judges.
4. Silence is to be observed during every student’s turn at the competition. Any disruption during a
student’s turn or derogatory comments or sounds toward a student at any time may result in
expulsion from the competition and/or removal from the library at the discretion of the official
judges and monitors of the competition.
THIS AREA IS LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY.
5. The pronouncer will say the word once for each speller according to the pronunciation guide
accompanying the word from Webster’s Third International Dictionary. The speller has the right
to ask for the word to be repeated, a dictionary definition, the word in a sentence, the part of
speech, and/or the language of origin. The judges will grant all such requests until they agree that
the word has been made reasonably clear to the speller. Only the judges may originate a
complaint regarding the pronunciation of a word and request a change. Any verbal arguments by
participants regarding their word’s pronunciation will be grounds for expulsion from the
competition to be determined by the judges.
6. Having started to spell a word, a speller may stop and start over, retracing the spelling from the
beginning. In retracing, however, there can be no change of letters or their sequence from those
first pronounced. If letters or their sequence is changed in the respelling, the speller will be
eliminated.
7. Upon missing the spelling of a word the speller is immediately eliminated from the competition
except when rule seven applies.
8. If none of the spellers in a round spell their words correctly, all spellers in that round remain in the
competition. If only one of the spellers in a round spells his/her word correctly, that speller must
spell a final “knockout” word to eliminate the others from competition. The “knockout” word will
be the next word on the list. If the “knockout” word is spelled incorrectly, all students in that
round remain in the competition. If the exact same group of three or fewer students continues
without a winner for more than fifteen minutes, the judges will announce a change and the
“knockout” words will then be chosen sequentially from a preassembled beginning level
“knockout” word list.
9. If a word has one or more homonyms, the pronouncer will indicate which word is to be spelled. If
the listed word is not properly identified, either by defining it or distinguishing the homonyms,
any correct spelling of any homonym of the word will be accepted.
10. No participant will be disqualified for capitalization issues.
11. The judges are in complete control of the competition. Their decision shall be final on all
questions.
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Please detach and return this section of the rules in order to be enrolled in the spelling bee.
_____ I have read and am aware of the rules regarding the spelling bee.
Student’s Printed Name ________________________________________________
Student’s Signature
________________________________________________
Student’s Grade Level: _________
ELA Teacher: ________________________
Parent/Guardian’s Signature ______________________________________________
This form must be completed and turned in to Mr. Bernhart in room 301.
NO LATER than TUESDAY, JANUARY 10TH!