BE a Speller
Contest Rules
To determine the order of student participation, (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.), turns will be assigned by raffle.
Once the student order has been decided, a two-round, practice warm-up session will be conducted
among all students.
The judge will say a word for the contestant to spell.
Words will be pronounced and defined according to the American (USA) version of the
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, copy should be available at each school. (www.merriam-webster.com).
Once a participant hears the word pronounced by the judge, he/she MUST repeat/pronounce the word
BOTH BEFORE and AFTER spelling it. (UNIVERSE...U-N-I-V-E-R-S-E...UNIVERSE)
If the participant spells the word without having repeated it BOTH BEFORE and AFTER spelling it, the
participant will be disqualified, even if the word had been correctly spelled.
Once the judge has dictated a word to a contestant, the contestant has 5 seconds to pronounce the
word, and begin spelling it. If the student doesn’t begin after 5 seconds, or refuses to spell the word,
he/she will be disqualified.
If the auditory pronunciation of the word from the I-pad is not clear, the student may ask for the word to
be repeated aloud by the judge. Participants may ask for this option ONLY ONCE each time a new word
is presented.
If the participant has doubts about a word to be spelled, he/she may ask for the word: (a) to be used in a
sentence, OR, (b) ask for the definition before spelling it. Once the student begins to spell the word,
he/she cannot ask for the meaning or use of it in a sentence. Option (a) OR (b) may be used only ONCE
with each word.
If a participant begins to spell a word, and realizes that he/she has made a mistake before finishing
spelling the word, then he/she may ask the judge for permission to correct him/herself.
EXAMPLE:
Judge: “Jane, please spell ‘dynamics’ ”.
Jane: (She repeats the word at the beginning). “dynamics, d-i-n-a-m, I am sorry, MAY I RESPELL THE
WORD, PLEASE?”
Jane has asked the judge for permission to respell the word, noting her own error. Jane had not yet
finished spelling the word when she asked for permission.
Judge: Yes, of course.
Jane repeats the word at the beginning again... then spells. d-y-n-a-m-i-c-s. She remembers to repeat the
word again, after having spelt it.
Participants can only ask to correct a word ONCE. If he/she makes a mistake again, on the same word
during the second attempt, the participant will be disqualified.
If the student makes a self-correction without first having asked the judge’s permission, it will be scored as an
error, disqualifying the contestant, even if the word had been spelled correctly.
If a word has been misspelled, the participant will be eliminated from the contest and a different word will be
given to the next contestant.
Words with double consonants or vowels can be spelled “double (letter)” or “(letter) (letter)”.
EXAMPLE:
“c-double o –k” or “C-o-o-k” OR “h-o-double p-i-n-g” , or “h-o—p-p-i-n-g”.
All words beginning with capital letters, or containing special characters, such as a hyphen or a space, must be
mentioned by the speller, as he/she spells the word, otherwise, it will be incorrect.
EXAMPLES:
Judge: Michael, please spell, “Norway”.
Michael: “Norway. Capital N-o-r-w-a-y. Norway”. (Notice that he mentioned the capital letter at the beginning).
Judge: David, please spell “far away”.
David: “far away. f-a-r- space- a-w-a-y. Far away”. Notice that David said “space”.)
Judge: “Fernanda, please spell ‘merry-go-round’”.
Fernanda: “merry-go-round. m-e-r-r-y dash g-o dash r-o-u-n-d, merry-go-round. Notice that Fernanda
mentioned the dashes written in the word.)
NOTE: Participants may use either “DASH” or “HYPHEN” as a correct term for lines separating parts of a word,
such as merry-go-round.
The contest continues, until there are only three finalists. The first of the three who makes an error, is out,
guaranteed 3rd place.
The two finalists have a “duel to the end”. If one of the two gets a word incorrect, the opponent MUST spell the
word failed by his/her competitor, PLUS, one additional word, in order to be declared FIRST PLACE WINNER. If
he/she fails the final word, the opponent must spell it correctly, plus ONE additional word in order to be
declared the final winner. The 2nd place goes to the participant eliminated by the FIRST PLACE WINNER.
The judges’ decisions are final. Sorry, there is no opportunity for an appeal.