Eligibility
- Students who are in K - 4 grade, as of Oct 2025, are eligible to participate in Junior Spelling Bee (Group 1)
- Students who are in 5 - 8 grade, as of Oct 2025, are eligible to participate in Senior Spelling Bee (Group 2)
- Others (Grade 9+) are eligible to participate in Open Spelling Bee (Group 3)
- Selected number of winners from each group will advance to World Spelling Championship
Registration
- All spellers, including current SpellPundit students, must register for the competition by signing up at https://www.spellpundit.com.
- Registration fee is $50 (non-refundable) (till Sep 30, 2024). From Oct 1 2024, the registration fee is $60
- Registration will be on a first come, first served basis and will close after the capacity is reached.
Dates
- Junior Spelling Bee (Group 1) competition is on Oct 26, 2024
- Senior Spelling Bee (Group 2) competition is on Oct 27, 2024
- Open Spelling Bee (Group 3) competition is on Nov 3, 2024
- World Spelling Championship Grand Finals is on Nov 3, 2024
Spelling Bee Format
- Competition contains only the oral rounds; there is no written test
- Junior Spelling Bee (Group 1) and Senior Spelling Bee (Group 2) will have both spelling and
vocabulary
- Open Spelling Bee (Group 3) and Grand Finals will have only spelling (no vocabulary)
- Junior (Group 1) and Senior (Group 2) students will get 1000 words (spelling and vocabulary)
- All phases will be organized as a traditional spell-off, in a virtual format using Zoom. The bee
begins with all participating spellers in round 1, and finishes when the group or world
champion is named.
- The event is divided into three primary groups for the semifinal phase. Group 1 consists of
spellers in 4th grade and below. Group 2 contains spellers from 5th to 8th grade. Group 3 is
made up of spellers in 9th grade and above. Each group will be divided into a number of
subgroups depending on the number of registrations.
- The highest number of finalists who will be accepted from each group is 15 percent of its
total attendance. There will be no tiebreakers used to determine the amount of finalists;
simply all spellers remaining after the round in which the field is reduced to the qualifying
quota or below will advance. All group finalists will also be permitted to enter the Grand
Finals.
- In the Group Phases, a maximum of 5 rounds between two spellers will be conducted before
group co-champs are declared.
Prize Money
A total of approximately $10,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to the Spelling Bee winners. The top 10 will receive trophies in addition to cash prizes.
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Junior Spelling Bee: Grades K-4
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Senior Spelling Bee: Grades 5-8
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Junior Spelling Bee Champion:
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$1000
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Senior Spelling Bee Champion:
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$1000
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Junior Spelling Bee First-Runner-Up:
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$500
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Senior Spelling Bee First-Runner-Up:
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$500
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Junior Spelling Bee Second-Runner-Up:
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$250
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Senior Spelling Bee Second-Runner-Up:
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$250
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Junior Spelling Bee 4th – 5th places (each)
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$100
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Senior Spelling Bee 4th – 5th places (each)
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$100
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Open Spelling Bee (> Grade 8)
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Grand Finals
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Junior Spelling Bee Champion:
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$1000*
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Senior Spelling Bee Champion:
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$2000
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Junior Spelling Bee First-Runner-Up:
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$500*
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Senior Spelling Bee First-Runner-Up:
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$1000
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Junior Spelling Bee Second-Runner-Up:
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$250*
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Senior Spelling Bee Second-Runner-Up:
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$500
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Junior Spelling Bee 4th – 5th places (each)
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$100*
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Senior Spelling Bee 4th – 10th places (each)
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$100
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The prize money may be redistributed in some special circumstances. For example, if the top prize is shared by 3
people, the total prize money of the top three ranks will be equally distributed.
*The actual cash prizes for Open Spelling Bee (Grade 9+) could be less, depending on the number of registrations.
Oral Rounds Details
Spellers should join the oral competitions using an online link provided by the organizers prior to the start of the
oral rounds. Spellers who are late to join the competition will be disqualified.
- The oral rounds will be conducted in standard spelling bee format (i.e., a speller will be eliminated
from the competition if they misspell their word).
- In each round, the speller has 2 minutes to spell the word they are given, starting from the time when
the pronouncer first says the word. The speller may seek information in the first 90 seconds, and no
questions are allowed in the last 30 seconds of their time.
- If technical or other difficulties are experienced, during spelling a word, the judges may give the
speller a different word for the round.
- If technical difficulties continue with a small number of spellers, organizers will continue the bee
without the spellers who continue to have technical difficulties.
- Judges may at their discretion use alternative tools to communicate with spellers, especially if there
are many technical challenges.
- Parents should not be in the same room as the speller. They can watch the Facebook livestream of
the bee from a separate room. No one other than speller should remain in the room while the speller
is taking the test.
- If a speller is out of the competition, they can continue to watch the bee via Facebook Livestream.
Word Lists and Official Dictionary
- All students will be provided with a word list consisting of 1000 words (spelling and vocabulary) after registration.
- For Group 1 and Group 2, the competition will begin words in the word lists. And then move to words in the dictionary.
- Registered Junior and Senior students will be able to prepare the word lists on SpellPundit website for no additional cost.
- There are word lists for Group 3.
- The Merriam Webster Unabridged Online Dictionary at ( http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/) will be the official source for words and word information for the bee.
- For the Grand Finals, Merriam-Webster's Online Collegiate and Medical Dictionaries may also be used as official word sources
- Additional details on Word Lists for Grand Finals are at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ypXsKk547sLTppyf5zh92LVUsVOD6RGw7bNelEXf50/edit?usp=drivesdk
Online Logistics and Honor System
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The entire competition will be held online. During all rounds of competition, spellers must not seek
help from any external resources. This includes, but is not limited to, other people (e.g. parents,
friends), any devices (e.g. phone, computer, additional computer or monitor, dictionary), or any
software (e.g. online dictionary).
- Spellers should participate in the bee from a quiet and well-lit room.
- Spellers must keep their hands clearly on screen at all times during their turn. Failure to do so will
result in a warning, and repeated warnings may lead to disqualification.
- Each speller must set up a secondary device that clearly displays both the monitor of their primary
device, and any elements of the surrounding environment where an illegal resource could feasibly be
hidden. This feed will be recorded along with the main stream, so any suspicious activity will be
viewable should later review by officials be deemed necessary.
- At judges’ request, spellers may be asked to scan their room or show a specific location.
- During all rounds of competition, spellers are required to be in front of a webcam, and their physical
movements as well as operations on the computer screen will be continuously recorded. Spellers
should adjust their webcam position such that judges can see the speller and the surroundings.
- While participating in the bee, ideally, the speller should be alone in a room with no one else in the
room. If parent(s) and sibling(s) want to be in the room, they should be behind the speller and judges
should be able to see parent(s) and sibling(s) at all times. Parents and siblings should not help the
speller in any way and if they do so, the speller will be disqualified from the competition.
- Spellers should not seek any competitive advantage by any other means. As a general rule, if
something is not allowed during a regular spelling bee (e.g. possession of a phone during
competition), it is not allowed in this online competition.
- Organizers may ask a speller to show the entire room, using the webcam, if they have any questions.
- Ultimately, this competition is an honor system and we rely on the integrity of the spellers to uphold
the fairness of the competition.
End of the Group Finals
- The bee will end when there is only one speller. To win the bee, the last speller has to spell his/her
own word and a championship word. If a speller misses the championship word, all the remaining
spellers from the previous round will be reinstated.
- When there are only three or less spellers remain in the bee, we will begin using a 30-word list. If no
speller misses his/her word during this stage, all three will be declared as joint winners and the prize
money will be distributed. If one speller misses the word, the remaining two spellers will continue till
the end of the 30-word list.
End of the Grand Finals
- When the final three spellers remain in the finals, the bee will proceed to the Championship Word
List. This list consists of 150 words; however, the championship phase will only go a maximum of 50
rounds, regardless of whether there are words remaining on the list.
- If at least two of the final three spellers continue for the full 50 rounds after entering the
championship phase, or if at least 100 words pass without an elimination at any prior stage of the
bee, all remaining spellers will be declared co-World Champions, with the grand prize and second
prize (and third if applicable) pooled together and divided evenly between them.
- There is no tiebreaker currently in use at the World Spelling Championship; this may be subject to
review as circumstances demand.
- If at any point all remaining spellers have misspelled 5 or more words in their last 10 rounds, the bee
ends without a World Champion being named. All remaining spellers receive the 2nd prize; any
unawarded funds are added to the grand prize for the following year. If the defending World
Champion remains in the bee at this point, they retain the title.
Judging
- All judges’ decisions are final. Depending on the circumstances of the competition, judges reserve the right to change the rules of the competition. Judges will do their best to preserve the integrity and
fairness of the competition.
- In case of unexpected technical difficulties, if necessary, judges will select winners using different
criteria (such as online written test scores).
Privacy and Permissions
- The organizers may record speller's movements and actions on the computer screen during the contest. By registering for the competition, spellers/parents give the organizers permission to record both.
- Oral rounds will be broadcast live on various social media channels. All parents, spellers, and other family members who appear on Zoom video, are agreeing to broadcast their images and images of the property.
- The organizers may provide contact information of winner(s) to the media.
- The organizers may use the recorded material in preparing promotional videos.
- The organizers may send newsletters to registered spellers.
