The word list for the Scripps National Spelling Bee is crafted by a panel of 21 people, including five former Scripps champions. Here's a closer look at how it's done.
Gift this article Share this article paywall-free. Email Copy Link Copied to clipboard OXON HILL, Md. — As the final pre-competition meeting of the Scripps National Spelling Bee's word selection panel stretches into its seventh hour, the pronouncers no longer seem to care.
THEY'RE TOUGH ON WORDSThe 21 panelists sit around a makeshift, rectangular conference table in a windowless room tucked inside the convention center outside Washington where the bee is staged every year. They are given printouts including words Nos. 770-1,110 — those used in the semifinal rounds and beyond — with instructions that those sheets of paper cannot leave the room.
The panel was created in 1985. The current collaborative approach didn't take shape until the early '90s. Bailly, the 1980 champion, joined in 1991. "Our raison d'etre was to teach spellers a rich vocabulary that they could use in their daily lives. And as they got smarter and smarter, they got more in contact with each other and were studying off the same lists, it became harder to hold a bee with those same types of words," Trinkle says.
Mishra pulls his submissions from his own list, which he started when he was a 13-year-old speller. He gravitates toward"the harder end of the spectrum." Scripps, however, didn't fundamentally change the way the word panel operates. It brought in younger panelists more attuned to the ways contemporary spellers study and prepare. And it made format changes designed to identify a sole champion. The wild-card program was scrapped, and Scripps added onstage vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker.
Dasari says there are roughly 100,000 words in the dictionary that are appropriate for spelling bees. He pledges that 99% of the words on Scripps' list are included in SpellPundit's materials. Anyone who learns all those words is all but guaranteed to win, Dasari says — but no one has shown they can do it.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Speller from rural Utah prepares for Scripps National Spelling BeeOne of Utah’s brightest minds lives in this rural town of 3300 people. 14-year-old Luke Jeppesen recently qualified for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Read more »
Behind the scenes at the Scripps National Spelling BeeThis is the 95th year of the competition, and those in charge of making it all come together said this year's Bee could be the busiest one yet.
Read more »
Muncie 7th grader sets sights on Scripps National Spelling BeeHeritage Hall Christian school 7th grader Craig Ulrey has his sights set on the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.
Read more »
Spellers prepare for competition at the Scripps National Spelling BeeContestants in this year's bee represent all 50 states, plus other countries.
Read more »
Incarnate Word Academy 7th grader competes in Scripps National Spelling BeeAdvait Nishit is one of five Northeast Ohio students competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee starting Tuesday.
Read more »
Meet our contestants in the Scripps National Spelling Bee: AditiYou can use Aditi Muthukumar as an example in support of 'positive reinforcement' in parenting. DannyNewTV shows us her journey going from a baby reading in her stroller to winning one of the longest state bees in history and now on to the ScrippsBee.
Read more »