Partners - The Patriot-News Spelling Bee Participation Handbook 2008-2009

Jahnavi Iyer Ties for Eighth at Scripps National Spelling Bee
In March of 2008, Jahnavi Iyer, of Eagle View MS, Cumberland Valley SD, won The Patriot-News Grand Championship Spelling Bee. This win paved the way to Washington D.C. at the end of May, to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, along with more than 280 international spellers.
The first of Jahnavi’s challenges was a written spelling test in which she spelled 21 out of 25 words correctly. After blazing her way through rounds two and three she found herself on the way to the Semifinals, live on ESPN, with the remaining 44 spellers.
Rounds five and six proved successful and Jahnavi was one of only 12 spellers to proceed into the final rounds broadcast live on ABC Friday evening, hosted by Tom Bergeron.
Round nine brought an agonizing, hand-wrenching silence as she dug deep for the correct spelling of “Nietzschean”. Jahanavi’s tenth word “parfleche”, a French word that refers to rawhide soaked in lye to remove the hair, proved to be her stumbling block. After nine successful rounds, this word proved too tough and she spelled the word “parflesh”.
Still, after a weeks worth of competition with the world’s spelling aces, tying for eighth is quite a feat; a proud accomplishment worthy of many accolades!

Updated FUN WITH SPELLING is Back!
WORD PUZZLES GIVE YOU MORE

Everybody loves word games. Puzzles entertain and tease your brain. But they can do lots more. Word puzzles can help you become a better speller and a better writer. They can make you a sharper thinker - and even help you cut the time it takes to do homework! This special section is packed with puzzles. Every puzzle is packed with word fun. And every word is packed with something to build on.

Improving spelling can be lots of fun if you integrate word games, puzzles and Newspaper in Education writing activities in the mix! FUN WITH SPELLING is not just for spelling bee participants, but for use in every language arts fourth through eighth grade classroom as a teaching tool. Make learning fun with FUN WITH SPELLING, a 16-page tabloid special section, published in The Patriot-NewsNovember 12, 2009.

Fun With Spelling is available at no cost to schools. FUN WITH SPELLING, written by Fran Ackerman, edited by Debby Carroll, designed by Melissa Rygalski, was created by Hot Topics Hot Serials.

To order FUN WITH SPELLING, use the online order form or e-mail rkeim@pnco.com. Deadline to order FUN WITH SPELLING in The Patriot-News is Friday, October 31.

Just the facts . . . .
* The Patriot-News Spelling Bee started in 1957. This is our 53rd year of sponsorship.
* Our spelling bee is one of approximately 280 in the United States and abroad under the auspices of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
* Public, independent, faith-based, charter and home schools are eligible to register in The Patriot-News program.
* Our regional program is open to grades six through eight.
* The Patriot-News sponsorship includes Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Juniata, Lebanon, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder and York counties.

Schools Register to Participate

To participate in The Patriot-News Spelling Bee, schools must first register with Scripps National Spelling Bee and pay a $99 fee. According to Scripps, this ensures that students are eligible to participate and to receive materials needed to conduct school bees.

To register with Scripps, school bee coordinators go to www.spellingbee.com, School Log-in. School bee coordinators will then receive The Patriot-News Spelling Bee specific information - local dates, deadlines and participation guidelines.

To participate in The Patriot-News Spelling Bee, schools register and pay a registration fee based on school enrollment.

* 300 students or less, one champion - $20;
* 301 to 600, two champions - $40;
* 601 or more, three champions - $60.

Registration checks must be made payable to The Patriot-News Spelling Bee and mailed to:

The Patriot-News Business/Accounting
PO Box 2265
Harrisburg, PA 17105

Registration forms, fees and a school champion biography with photograph are due to The Patriot-News by January 5, 2009.

Calendar
Sept. 8 Email sent to coordinators-reminder to register with Scripps; Partners and forms going online
Oct. 15 Deadline for schools to register with Scripps National Spelling Bee
Oct. 21 Advisory committee meeting
Oct. 31 Deadline for ordering FUN WITH SPELLING
Nov. 12 FUN WITH SPELLING published in The Patriot-News
Dec.-Jan.2, 2009 School spelling bees
Jan. 5 School registration, school champion biography due to The Patriot-News
Jan. 8 Written Test information sent to semi-finalist spellers
Jan 23 Postcard/e-mail confirming information due from speller
Feb. 6 Deadline to inform Patriot-News bee coordinator of alternate champions
Feb. 15 Semi-finals Written Test 1 p.m., Hilton Harrisburg
Feb. 16 Correction of written test
Feb. 20 Congratulatory letter sent to finalists; email sent to coordinators
Feb. 21 Names of finalists go online
Feb. 25 Bee Kit sent to finalists
March 22 Grand Championship Spelling Bee 1 p.m., Hilton Harrisburg
May 25 - 31 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee, Grand Hyatt, Washington, D.C.

Spellers Expand Vocabulary, Gain Confidence

The Patriot-News Spelling Bee joins the E.W. Scripps Company and approximately 280 sponsors in the United States, American Samoa, Canada, China, Europe, Ghana, Guam, Jamaica, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to create the nation’s largest and longest running educational program, The Scripps National Spelling Bee. Our grand champion competes with young spellers at the Scripps National Spelling Bee held in Washington, D.C., May 25 - 31, 2009.

While regions vary in size and structure, each is designed to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them throughout their lives.

While the Scripps National Spelling Bee includes students, grades four through eight, The Patriot-News Spelling Bee is for sixth, seventh and eighth graders.

Thousands of students from public, independent, faith-based, charter and home schools participate in individual school bees throughout our midstate region. Patriot-News sponsorship includes the following counties: Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Juniata, Lebanon, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder and York.

Home school students are eligible to participate as members of home school associations. Parents should contact the bee coordinator for registration information.

Charter schools are also eligible to participate. Teachers or administrators should contact the bee coordinator for registration information.

Schools enroll with the national office to ensure students are eligible to participate and to receive materials needed to conduct school bees. During enrollment, school bee coordinators receive The Patriot-News Spelling Bee specific information - local dates, deadlines and participation guidelines.

Any past Patriot-News Grand Champion may participate in future bees provided he/she meets the age/grade requirements (provided in rule 1) and has not won the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

School champions advance to a semi-finals 100-word written test. Based on test scores, approximately 50 spellers advance to The Patriot-News Grand Championship Spelling Bee to determine the champion.

Scripps National Spelling Bee is a week-long event and includes overnight accommodations at the Grand Hyatt, a barbeque, sight-seeing, an awards banquet and, of course, spelling.

Scripps National Spelling Bee is conducted in oral rounds except for round one, the Preliminaries. The speller takes round one test during open testing hours of his/her choice Monday or Tuesday. Each speller will spell 50 words using a computer keyboard. Only 25 of the 50 spellings will count toward each speller’s preliminaries score. A sample test will be available to The Patriot-News champion through a secure Web site prior to Bee Week.

There are no eliminations in round one. Eliminations before the start of round three occur in accordance with a “threshold of 90” standard that is applied to a score that reflects performance in both round one and round two. One point shall be given for each word spelled correctly on the written test. Three points shall be given for a correct spelling in the oral round two. The score for all words spelled correctly in rounds one and two, the preliminaries, shall be 28. Approximately the top 90 proceed to round three.

Round two starts Thursday morning. The Announcement Assembly - the result of rounds one and two, the preliminaries - takes place around 11:45 p.m.

The quarterfinals - the results of the Announcement Assembly start at 2 p.m. and are live on ESPN360.com.

Friday, the semifinals go live on ESPN from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Championship Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee go live on ABC from 8 to 10 p.m.

The Patriot-News Spelling Bee Rules
1. School champions participating in the championship finals of The Patriot-News Spelling Bee must qualify under these requirements:
(a) the speller must not have won a Scripps National Spelling Bee championship in Washington;
(b) the speller must attend a school that is officially enrolled with the Scripps National Spelling Bee;
(c) the speller must not have passed beyond the eight grade on or before February 1, 2009;
(d) the speller must not have repeated fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth grade for the purpose of extending spelling bee eligibility. If the speller has repeated fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth grade, the speller must notify the Scripps National Spelling Bee of the circumstances of grade repetition by March 26, 2009; and the Scripps National Spelling Bee will, at its sole discretion, determine the speller’s eligibility status on or before April 30, 2009;
(e) the speller - or the speller’s parent, legal guardian, or school official acting on the speller’s behalf - must not have declared to another entity an academic classification higher than eighth grade for any purpose, including high school graduation equivalency or proficiency examinations and/or examinations such as the PSAT, SAT or ACT;
(f) the speller must not have earned the legal equivalent of a high school diploma;
(g) the speller must not have completed or have been enrolled in more than six high school-level courses or two college-level courses on or before April 30, 2009;
(h) the speller must not eschew normal school activity to study for spelling bees. The Scripps National Spelling Bee defines normal school activity as adherence to at least four courses of study other than language arts, spelling, Latin, Greek, vocabulary and etymology for at least four hours per weekday for 34 of the 38 weeks between September 1, 2008 and May 24, 2009;
(i) the speller must not have reached his/her 15th birthday on or before September 1, 2008 and
(j) the speller may not participate in The Patriot-News Spelling Bee more than three consecutive years.

2. A champion from a registered school who is not available for the semi-finals of The Patriot-News Spelling Bee, must be replaced by the next placed speller from the school’s competition.

3. Contests for classroom, school, district, city, or regional championships may be conducted orally or in writing or in a manner that is a combination of the two.

4. The Patriot-News Grand Championship Spelling Bee shall be conducted in rounds. Each speller remaining in the Spelling Bee at the start of a round shall spell one word in the round, except as provided in Rule 11.

5. Words used at the regional level shall be selected from the 2009 Spell It!, from the 2009 Sponsor Bee Guide and from Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., and its Addenda Section.

6. Spelling bee officials will strive to provide accommodations for spellers who have physical challenges. All requests for accommodations for special needs involving sight, hearing, speech or movement must be indicated on the speller’s biography form. The officials have discretionary power to amend oral and/or written spelling requirements on a case-by-case basis for spellers with diagnosed medical conditions involving sight, hearing, speech or movement.

7. The pronouncer strives to pronounce words according to the diacritical markings in Scripps National Spelling Bee word lists and Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., and its Addenda Section.
(a) If a word has one or more homonyms, the pronouncer indicates which word is to be spelled by defining the word. If the listed word is not properly identified, either by defining it or by distinguishing the homonyms, any correct spelling of any homonym of the word will be accepted.
(b) The pronouncer responds to the speller’s requests for a definition, sentence, part of speech, language(s) of origin and alternate pronunciation(s), the pronouncer or linguist checks for alternate pronunciations in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., and its Addenda Section.

8. The judges uphold the rules and determine whether or not words are spelled correctly. They render final decisions on appeals, are in complete control of the competition and their decision is final on all questions.
Because seeing the speller’s lip movements may be critical in detecting misunderstandings or misspellings, the judges encourage spellers to face them when pronouncing and spelling the word.

The judges participate in the exchange of information between the speller and pronouncer if they feel that clarification is needed. Also, the judges listen carefully to the speller’s pronunciation of the word; and if they sense that the speller has misunderstood the word, the judges work with the speller and pronouncer until they are satisfied that reasonable attempts have been made to assist the speller in understanding the word.

The judges may disqualify a speller:
(a) who refuses a request to start spelling;
(b) who does not approach the microphone when it is time to receive the word;
(c) who does not comply with the eligibility requirements;
(d) who engages in unsportsmanlike conduct;
(e) who, in the process of retracing a spelling, alters the letters or sequence of letters from those first uttered or
(f) who, in the process of spelling, utters unintelligible or nonsense sounds.

The judges may NOT disqualify a speller:
(a) for failing to pronounce the word either before or after spelling it;
(b) for asking a question or
(c) for noting or failing to note the capitalization of a word.

9. The role of the speller is:
(a) to gather as much information as possible to help spell the word correctly and
(b) to spell the word correctly.

The judges may not disqualify a speller for asking a question. The speller makes an effort to face the judges and pronounce the word for the judges before spelling it and after spelling it. The speller while facing the judges makes an effort to utter each letter distinctly and with sufficient volume to be understood by the judges. The speller may ask the pronouncer to say the word again, define it, use it in a sentence, provide the part of speech, provide the language(s) of origin and/or provide an alternate pronunciation or pronunciations.
Having started to spell a word, a speller may stop and start over, retracing the spelling from the beginning. In retracing, however, there can be no change of letters of their sequence from those first pronounced. If letters or their sequence are changed in the respelling, the speller will be eliminated.

10. Upon incorrectly spelling a word, the speller immediately drops out of the competition, except as provided in rule 11. The next word on the pronouncer’s list is given to the next speller.

11. If none of the spellers remaining in the Spelling Bee at the start of a round spells a word correctly during that round, all shall remain in the competition and a new round begins.

If only one speller in a round spells correctly in a round, a new one-word round begins and the speller is given an opportunity to spell the next word on the list (anticipated championship word). If the speller succeeds in correctly spelling the anticipated championship word in this one-word round, the speller is declared the champion.

If a speller misspells the anticipated championship word in a one-word round, a new round begins with all the spellers who spelled (correctly and incorrectly) in the previous round. These spellers spell in their original order.

Under no circumstances is any speller asked to correct the misspelling of another speller.

12. Any question relating to the spelling of a word should be referred to the designated appeals official immediately in writing on the official appeal form.

The speller’s parent(s), legal guardian or teacher may appeal to the judges for the speller’s reinstatement provided that the appeal is in compliance with the appeal protocol. The judges render a final decision on the appeal in accordance with the reinstatement protocol.

A written appeal must be hand delivered to the designated appeals official. The deadline for delivering an appeal is before the speller affected would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the spelling bee.

When five or fewer spellers remain, the written appeal requirement is suspended and an oral appeal must be made before the speller would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the spelling bee.

The judges will not entertain appeals from individuals seeking to dislodge another speller from the competition.

13. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., and its Addenda Section, shall serve as the final authority for the spellings of words. If more than one spelling is listed for a word that the pronouncer has provided for the speller to spell, any of these spellings will be accepted as correct if all of the following three criteria are met:
(a) the pronunciations of the words are identical;
(b) the definitions of the words are identical and
(c) the words are clearly identified as being standard variants of each other. Spellings at other locations having temporal labels (such as archaic, obsolete), stylistic labels (such as substand, nonstand), or regional labels (such as North, Midland, Irish) which differ from main entry spellings not having these status labels will not be accepted as correct.

14. The judges are in complete control of the Bee. Their decision shall be final on all questions. The Patriot-News reserves the judges’ right to decide on any question not covered or not fully explained by these rules.

The Patriot-News Spelling Bee Grand Champions

2008 Jahnavi Iyer, Eagle View MS, Cumberland Valley SD
2007 Kafui Dzaka, Allen MS, West Shore SD
2006 Charley Allegar, Central Dauphin MS
2005 Charley Allegar, Central Dauphin MS
2004 Charley Allegar, Middle Paxton ES, Central Dauphin SD
2003 Zachariah Basehore, Good Hope MS, Cumberland
Valley SD
2002 Ashley Yu, St. Joan of Arc School
2001 Ashley Yu, St. Joan of Arc School
2000 Michael Hartwell, Seven Sorrows School
1999 Michael Hartwell, Seven Sorrows School
1998 Karina Lopez, Sacred Heart School
1997 Kathryn Spruill, Eagle View MS, Cumberland Valley SD
1996 Beth Zmitrovich, Hershey MS, Derry Township SD
1995 Maureen Hurtgen, Southern MS
1994 Justin Geist, Linglestown JHS, Central Dauphin SD
1993 Laura Stuart, Wilson MS, Carlisle Area SD
1992 Michael Sharma, Dallastown Area MS
1991 Anupam Dass, East Pennsboro MS
1990 Pamela Varma, Lemoyne MS, West Shore SD
1989 Pamela Varma, Lemoyne MS, West Shore SD
1988 Todd Hetrick, Bermudian Springs MS
1987 Joya Dass, East Pennsboro MS
1986 Jon Pennington, Mechanicsburg IS
1985 Charles Lewis, Gettysburg JHS
1984 Charles Lewis, Gettysburg JHS
1983 Robert Weishaar, Sacred Heart School
1982 Michele Cumberland, St. Michael the Archangel
1981 Laura Templeton, East Pennsboro MS
1980 Cheryl Kreiser, Annville-Cleona IS
1979 Julie Won, Cumberland Valley MS West
1978 Julie Won, Cumberland Valley MS West
1977 Jill Pryor, New Cumberland JHS
1976 Clay Jones, S. Middleton MS
1975 Leslie Norton, Park Forest JHS
1974 John J. Skovron, New Cumberland JHS
1973 Hoon T. Won, Good Hope IS
1972 Hoon T. Won, Good Hope IS
1971 Kellie Whittaker, Good Hope IS
1970 Charles Morgret, CD East JHS
1969 Gerri Chizeck, Camp Curtin JHS
1968 Robert Lefkowski, Carlisle JHS
1967 William Zack, St. Joseph’s School
1966 Vicki Miller, Red Lion JHS
1965 Janet Chizeck, Camp Curtin JHS
1964 Miriam Wildeman, St. Theresa School
1963 Elaine C. Frantz, S. Lebanon Twp. JHS
1962 Sharon R. Veach, St. Patrick’s School
1961 Robert Henschke, Sacred Heart ES
1960 Ilze Jaunaemis, Camp Curtin JHS
1959 Susan Kirssin, Shippensburg JHS
1958 Terry Madeira, Elizabethtown JHS
1957 Rita Taylor, St. Rose of Lima

A Primer on Spelling Bee Competitions

Students first compete in school bees. These bees are usually conducted December - January 2. Schools determine who may participate, when and how a bee is conducted, but need to comply with The Patriot-News Spelling Bee and Scripps National Spelling Bee rules.

If conducting an oral bee, schools are particularly encouraged to follow procedures set forth by Scripps and The Patriot-News relating to rounds. This especially affects remaining spellers near the conclusion of the Bee and the naming of a champion. See rule 11.

Schools enroll with Scripps to ensure their students are eligible to participate and to receive the materials needed to conduct classroom and school bees. Coordinators will receive The Patriot-News program-specific information, local dates, deadlines and participation guidelines.

Scripps will also send enrolled schools 25 hard copies of the 2009 Spell It! study booklets. Spell It! is also available free online at www.myspellit.com.

Names and biographies with pix of school champions are due to The Patriot-News by January 5, 2009. The Patriot-News then mails school champion/semifinalist instructions directly to the speller’s home address, about the next level of competition. If a school champion/semi-finalist cannot attend the written test, the next place speller replaces the school champion at the semi-finals. Principals may send alternate spellers by contacting the spelling bee coordinator by February 6. Exceptions cannot be made.

The semi-final written test for school champions is Sunday February 15, 1 p.m. at the Hilton Harrisburg. The 100-word written test is administered in two parts with a brief break after the first 50 words. The pronouncer provides the word, part of speech, definition and sentence. Approximately 60 words come from 2009 Spell It! The remaining 40 words are selected from The Complete Spellers’ Dictionary and Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., and its Addenda Section.

Approximately 50 students scoring highest on the written semi-finals test advance to The Patriot-NewsGrand Championship Spelling Bee. Finalist spellers and their coordinators will be emailed regarding the list of finalists. Names of finalists will also appear online at www.patriot-news.com, Newspaper in Education.

Spellers are provided with a Bee Kit to explain the Grand Championship Spelling Bee, including what to wear, what to study, a review of rules, prizes and additional pertinent information. The kit will be mailed to the spellers Wednesday February 25.

The Patriot-News Grand Championship Spelling Bee is Sunday March 9, 1 p.m. at the Hilton Harrisburg. Conducted in rounds, the pronouncer pronounces the word, gives a sentence and the definition of the word. We start with a practice round which does not count and will continue to spell in the “miss and out” format until The Patriot-News Grand Champion has been declared.

The Patriot-News Grand Champion advances to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C., May 25 - 31, 2009.

Study Resources
* In addition to 2009 Spell It!, Scripps National Spelling Bee offers additional study materials online for spellers, schools and families; www.spellingbee.com/resources.asp.
* Carolyn’s Corner, a weekly column for study tips and activities to help prepare for successful spelling bee participation.
* Merriam-Webster’s A Dictionary of Prefixes, Suffixes, and Combining Forms.
* The Consolidated Word List, a compilation of over 100 Scripps National Spelling Bee word lists dating as far back as 1950. It appears on the website in four sections totaling 794 pages. It is FREE. There are 23,413 unique words. Parts of speech, language origins, pronunciations, definitions and sentences are provided for 10,139 (43%) of these words.

Every Speller is a Champion and Worthy of an Award
The following prizes were awarded at the 2007-08 Spelling Bee.

Spelling Bee Champion:
- All expense paid trip for the champion and one parent/guardian to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., compliments of The Patriot-News and the Spelling Bee Advisory Committee.
- Round trip limousine service for the champion and family to the Scripps National Bee compliments of Unique Limousine and The Patriot-News.
- Who’s On First Spirit Award - $500 compliments of the Harrisburg Senators Baseball Club.
- Award of Excellence $500 with hard hat compliments of Pennsy Supply.
- Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary , Unabridged, 11th Edition compliments of Merriam-Webster, Inc.
- The Samuel Louis Sugarman Award - $100 Series EE U.S. Savings Bond.
- One-year Subscription to Encyclopaedia Britannica Online compliments of Encyclopaedia Britannica. .

Second Place:
- 15" Toshiba color TV compliments of Billows TV and Appliance.
- What’s on Second Spirit Award - $200 compliments of the Harrisburg Senators Baseball Club
- In honor of the late William T. Lunsford, Jr, a $200 Series EE U.S. Savings Bond, compliments of Mrs. Sara J. Lunsford.
- One-year Subscription to Encyclopaedia Britannica Online compliments of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Third Place:
- I Don’t Know’s on Third Spirit Award - $100 compliments of the Hbg. Senators Baseball Club.
- $100 gift certificate compliments of Giant Food Stores, Inc.
- Carol Conrad Memorial Award, $100 Series EE U.S. savings bond , compliments of The Patriot-News Spelling Bee Committee.
- One-year Subscription to Encyclopaedia Britannica Online compliments of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Fourth Place:
- $100 gift card compliments of Giant Food Stores, Inc.
- $20 Amazon.com gift certificate compliments of Scripps National Spelling Bee.
- Bee Balm Plant compliments of Stauffers of Kissel Hill.

Fifth Place:
- $50 Gift Certificate and Vintage Dictionary compliments of Cupboard Maker Books.
- Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary , 11th edition, compliments of Merriam-Webster.
- $20 Amazon.com gift certificate compliments of Scripps National Spelling Bee.

In addition to the above awards, the top ten spellers each received:
- Book selection compliments of Bertelsmann Direct North America, Inc.
- Bootie Bugs & Queen Beatrix compliments of Ideas and Objects, Strawberry Square.
- Citizen’s Kow/Cow Parade compliments of Harrisburg News Company.
- Eager Reader Award with meal ticket compliments of Old Country Buffet.
- Fun Activity Pass compliments of Sports Emporium.
- Hard Hat compliments of Pennsy Supply.
- Ice Cream Coupon compliments of Mike’s Ice Cream, Strawberry Square.
- Mini Golf Pass compliments of Bumble Bee Hollow Golf Center.
- One day HERSHEYPARK Pass compliments of HERSHEYPARK.
- Ornament compliments of Kathie's Christmas & Collectibles.
- Patriot-News Mug and Comic Umbrella compliments of The Patriot-News.

- Spellers missing a word in round eight & higher each received a $30 Borders gift card.
- Spellers missing a word in rounds four - seven each received a $20 Borders gift card.
- Spellers missing a word in rounds one - three each received a $10 Borders gift card.

Each speller received:
- A meal ticket compliments of Old Country Buffet.
- A gift/prize from the Bees Knees Award Table courtesy of The Patriot-News Spelling Bee Advisory Committee.

Bees Knees Award Table:
Here’s our way of letting each speller know they are a champion! As spellers are eliminated from a round, they choose a special “bee item” from the Bees Knees Award Table, ensuring that all spellers are recognized for participation in the spelldown.

Patriot-News Spelling Bee Advisory Committee
Chairperson
Mr. Robert Whitmoyer
Selinsgrove Area MS

Pronouncer
Mr. Kermit Leitner
Retired, Susquehanna Twp. HS

Associate Pronouncer
Ms. Kathi Kunkle
Mechanicsburg SD

Linguist
Mrs. R. Sylvia Rosen
32° Masonic Learning Centers for Children, Inc.

Parliamentarian
Mr. Charles Hartwell
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Treasurer
Mrs. Margy Hartwell
Middletown, PA

Secretary
Mrs. Joan Suders
Cumberland Valley SD

Committee Members
Mrs. Judi Caldwell
St. Joan of Arc School

Mr. Patrick Dennehy
Central Dauphin MS

Mrs. Brenda Reed
Cumberland Valley SD

Mr. David Volkman
Superintendent, Susquehanna Twp. HS

Bee in Touch
Ruth J. Keim
Spelling Bee Coordinator
Phone: 717.255.4104
Fax: 717.255.4101
E-mail: rkeim@patriot-news.com
Address: The Patriot-News Educational Readership Initiatives, PO Box 2265, Harrisburg, PA 17105

Words from the Chairperson

During vacation I had the chance to watch the tide ebb and flow. This reminded me of The Patriot-News Spelling Bee and how it cycles around each school year. In spite of increased emphasis on academics and "No Child Left Behind" the spelling bee committee and project coordinator, Ruth Keim, hope you and your school will again choose to participate in the annual spelling bee program. Important dates and everything you need to have a successful bee have been included with this information. Don't hesitate to contact us should you have questions or concerns.

Robb Whitmoyer, Chairperson

National Championship Words
2008 guerdon
2007 serrefine
2006 ursprache
2005 appoggiatura
2004 autochthonous
2003 pococurante
2002 prospicience
2001 succedaneum
2000 demarche
1999 logorrhea
1998 chiaroscurist
1997 euonym
1996 vivisepulture
1995 xanthosis
1994 antediluvian
1993 kamikaze
1992 lyceum
1991 antipyretic
1990 fibranne
1989 spoliator
1988 elegiacal
1987 staphylococci
1986 odontalgia
1985 milieu
1984 luge
1983 Purim
1982 psoriasis
1981 sarcophagus
1980 elucubrate
1979 maculature
1978 deification
1977 cambist
1976 narcolepsy
1975 incisor
1974 hydrophyte
1973 vouchsafe
1972 macerate
1971 shalloon
1970 croissant
1969 interlocutory
1968 abalone
1967 chihuahua
1966 ratoon
1965 eczema
1964 sycophant
1963 equipage
1962 esquamulose
1961 smaragdine
1960 eudaemonic
1959 catamaran
1958 syllepsis
1957 schappe
1956 condominium
1955 crustaceology
1954 transept
1953 soubrette
1952 vignette
1951 insouciant
1950 meticulosity
1949 dulcimer
1948 psychiatry
1947 chlorophyll
1946 semaphore
1942 sacrilegious
1941 initials
1940 therapy
1939 canonical
1938 sanitarium
1937 promiscuous
1936 interning
1935 intelligible
1934 deteriorating
1933 torsion
1932 knack
1931 foulard
1930 fracas
1929 asceticism
1928 albumen
1927 luxuriance
1926 abrogate
1925 gladiolus