A spelling bee is an oral competition where contestants are asked to spell English words. Failure to spell a word correctly disqualifies a contestant, who is removed from the competition. The competition is conducted in rounds until only one contestant remains.
The basic rule of spelling a word in the competition is that once the contestant has started to spell a word, he may start over, but the letter or sequence of letters already spoken may not be changed.
In the United States, spelling bees are annually held from local levels up to the level of the National Spelling Bee which awards a scholarship to the winner. The National Spelling Bee is sponsored by English-language newspapers. In 2003, contestants came from the Bahamas and Jamaica as well as the United States.
This kind of competition is depicted in the 2002 Academy Award-nominated documentary, Spellbound.
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Last updated: 08-29-2005 21:25:16
