The web site: www.spellingbee.com is the official US competition web site. It is a great site to check out with sections on preparation and an interesting audio section with the US pronouncer.

Also check Champions and Their Winning Words, 1925 through 2009. www.spellingbee.com/bwg/stats_chmpions.asp

The Scripps National Spelling Bee, now in its 82nd year, is the world's longest running academic competition and has been held more times than the Academy Awards.

Far from showing its age however, the Bee has become a cultural phenomenon. Today, 10 million children compete in school competitions across the US.

The 2008 final had a record number of finalists, more than double the number in the eighties.

The 2008 Bee was the third time it screened live on prime time TV on the USA's ABC. Prior to that the Bee was televised on the sports network ESPN since 1994. The Academy Award-nominated documentary Spellbound, based on the 1999 competition, and a current Broadway musical hit, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee have also raised the Bee's profile.

Bees are also the subject of two movies: Bee Season, starring Richard Gere, and Akeelah and the Bee, starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne.

Paige Kimble, director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the last ten years and the 1981 national champion, has consulted on both movies and says this interest in spelling bees is unprecedented.

It is this increasing popularity that spawned a national competition in New Zealand in 2005, with the champion winning a ticket to Washington DC to be the country's first-ever representative at the US Final. That prize went to Charlotte Roose, a 12 year-old from Hillcrest High in Hamilton.

As well as New Zealand, eight other countries have also competed: Canada, Germany, Guam, Jamaica (who caused a major upset when its speller won the championship in 1998 - the only time it has been won by a speller outside of the US), Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and American Samoa.  

"Having New Zealand and other countries participate brings awareness to American children that there are English speaking countries in every corner of the world," says Paige.

She says one of the most compelling justifications for the Bee was handed to them on a silver platter by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) when it revamped the score composition of College Admission Exams last year. Now students are tested on their verbal, mathematical and written composition instead of just verbal and mathematical.