SPELLING BEE

Each school may enter two students for each division: Junior High (6th -8th grades) and Senior High (9th -12th grades). The lists will be sent out before registration opens. There will be separate lists for each division. If all of the words from the list have been used, the Bee Master will begin asking words from another list that participants have not seen. The Bee will be conducted in a traditional, single-elimination format and will be bound to the following responsibilities and general rules:

The Bee Master – This position requires one who has worked with the words in advance and is prepared with the proper pronunciations, definitions, and sample sentences. The Bee Master controls the Bee and takes final responsibility for determining that the rules are followed.

The Judges – At least two teachers from different schools will be asked to follow along and determine whether contestants have spelled the words correctly. Their secondary responsibility is to assist the Bee Master in determining that the rules are followed.

The Watchers – At least two teachers from different schools will be asked to stand and observe the audience to determine that there is no cheating and giving of hints during the Bee.

1. The Bee master will lead the contestants in a practice round before the competition starts.

2. In competition, the contestant must pronounce the word after the Bee Master gives it.

3. In competition, the contestant may request the Bee Master to re-pronounce the word, define it, or use it in a sentence. This may continue until the judges feel that the word has been made sufficiently clear.

4. If a word has one or more homonyms, the contestant is responsible to ask for clarification if they feel it is needed.

5. Contestants may take some time to think before spelling or while spelling the word. However, if the Judges and the Bee Master feel that the student is taking too much time, they retain the right to instruct a contestant to continue spelling or be eliminated.

6. Having started to spell the word, a contestant may stop and start over, retracing the spelling from the beginning. It is proper for the contestant to inform the judges that he plans to do so. In the retracing, there may be no change of letters or their sequence. If there are changes, the contestant will be disqualified.

7. Upon missing the spelling of a word, the contestant drops out of the contest. The next word on the Bee Master's list will be given to the next contestant.

8. When one of the last two contestants misspells a word, the other contestant must spell the same word. If the second contestant spells the word correctly, he must also spell the next word on the Bee Master's list in order to become the winner.

9. If both final contestants misspell the same word, both shall continue in the contest and the one who first misspelled the word will be given a new word to spell. The contest then proceeds according to rules six and seven.

10.Any question or clarification relating to the spelling of a word must be referred to the Bee Master and the Judges immediately and will not be considered once the Bee has been completed and a winner has been announced. The Bee Master and the Judges retain complete authority and control of the Bee. Their decision shall be final in any dispute.