SPELLERS

Welcome to the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee.
The first step of the program is studying for your classroom bee. If your school is registered with Scripps, your teacher will have the Classroom Word Lists for you.
Each list consists of between 15 – 50 words depending on your year level.
Year Eight students will do the Top 100 Test using the 50 words in their Classroom Word List and 50 words they have not seen. The 50 unseen words have been taken from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.

Schools send the Year Eight Top 100 Test papers to the Event Manager of the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee to determine the regional semi-finalists.
The teachers will mark the spellers’ tests and email the Event Organiser to confirm the spelling bee has been held. The tests of the Year Eight Spellers are then sorted by score and sent to the Spelling Bee Event Organiser.

These results are used to identify the semi-finalists from around the country.
They will be invited to come to the Regional Semi-Final Spelling Bee closest  to them.

Fourteen finalists will advance to the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee Final on Saturday 3 March 2012.

Those finalists outside of the lower North Island win airfares for two to fly to Wellington to compete in the Final.

The Champion New Zealand Speller will win a trip for two to the USA to represent New Zealand at the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort near Washington DC. The trip includes accommodation and $US500 spending money.

Students who qualify to compete at the Final will use the 2012 Spell It! Study Guide and word lists to prepare. You'll find a downloadable version of the 2012 Spell It! http://myspellit.com/

PLEASE NOTE: Words from the Classroom Word Lists will NOT be used in the Semi- Final round or the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee Final. The words will be selected from 2011 Spell It! http://myspellit.com/ and in later rounds from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary 11th Ed.

Competing at the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee Final is a great opportunity to meet and make friends with other top spellers from around the country and take part in an exciting competition!

Everyone leaves the bee with a 2012 New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee Finalist Medal, a Vegemite Spelling Bee T-shirt and lots of memories.

The top speller receives a trophy and airfares to Washington DC for themselves and a parent/caregiver to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in June 2012.

For a little extra help as you study check out www.scripps.com for some tips and advice to help you to become the best speller possible.