No contestant will be admitted to the Bee after the first
word has been given.
In competition, after the pronouncer gives the contestant a word, the
contestant may pronounce the word before spelling it or immediately spell the
word without pronouncing.
Words will be defined and used in a sentence for all grades when requested.
Saying the word at the beginning and/or end will not be part of the judging. The
pronouncer shall grant the request for a maximum of two additional times. Judges
may disqualify any contestant who ignores a request to start spelling.
Having started to spell a word, a contestant may stop and start over,
retracing the spelling from the beginning, but in retracing there can be no
change of the letters and their sequence from those first pronounced. If letters
and their sequence are changed in the respell, the speller will be eliminated.
Contestants will not be eliminated for misspelling during the practice round.
When the contestants are reduced to two, the elimination procedure changes.
At that point, when one contestant misspells a word, the other contestant shall
be given the opportunity to spell that same word. If the second contestant
spells the word correctly, plus the next word on the pronouncer’s list, then
he/she shall be declared the champion.
If one of the last two spellers misses and the other, after correcting the
error, misspells the new word submitted to him/her then the misspelled new word
shall be referred to the first speller. If the first speller then succeeds in
correcting the error and correctly spells the next word on the pronouncer’s
list, then he/she shall be declared the champion.
If both spellers misspell the same word, both shall continue in the contest,
and the one who first misspelled the word shall be given a new word to spell.
The contest shall then continue under Rules 6 and 7.
If a word has one or more homonyms, the pronouncer shall indicate which word
is to be spelled. If the listed word is not properly identified, either by
defining it or distinguishing the homonyms, any correct spelling of any homonym
shall be accepted.
Anyone wishing to challenge the spelling of a word must do so before the
pronouncer goes on to the spelling of the next word. Anyone in the room may
challenge a word.
NOTE: The words used in the first two rounds will be from the study list
provided to all participating schools. Words used in subsequent rounds may not
necessarily be from the study list.
