The live spelling contests are exciting and entertaining, and families and parents of the four students in the school team are always welcome to come and support the players.
First, all registered schools will be invited to take part in Local Heats between February and April 2011. The winning team of each Local Heat will be invited to attend the Semi-Finals in May 2011, and the winning teams from those will be invited to the Grand Final in London in June, 2011.
Format of the Spelling Bee
The teams take part in two spelling challenges: The Spelling Play Off and The Quick Fire Challenge. The winning team will be the one with the highest combined score from both challenges.
The Spelling Play Off
Contestants from each team take it in turns to spell a word. If they get it right, they gain two points. If they get it wrong, they are eliminated (In the Local Heats, no players will be eliminated in the first round.) The round continues until just one player remains and that player is awarded the 'last player standing'.
The Quick Fire Challenge
The aim here is for the team to spell as many words as they can in two minutes. They choose the level of word difficulty they’d like to attempt – easy, medium or hard – which earn them one, two or three points respectively. Team members take it in turns to spell the words they are given and can pass on any word they’re unsure about. Teams can switch in their reserve player for this challenge.
The Judges
There will be a Spellmaster at each event who will give the words to the contestants. The Spellmaster will be supported by a judge appointed by HarperCollins, publisher of the official dictionary of The Times Spelling Bee 2011. The judge will oversee all aspects of accuracy, adherence to rules and correct pronunciation. The judge’s decision is final.
HarperCollins provide all words in The Times Spelling Bee using The Collins School Dictionary as the authorised reference. All spellings are UK spellings (not US). The final authority for adjudication during the 2011 events will be the Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged.
The full 2011 Championship Rules will be published shortly.