The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Director’s Note

Competition brings out the best and worst in all of us. In The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, six eccentric, bright middle school students compete not only for first place, but also for love, affection and their own self-esteem. As they struggle through “the bee,” their anxiety, idiosyncrasies, and narcissism are on full display; but so is their innate vulnerability, empathy, and compassion. While these youngsters’ focus seemingly starts out on “winning,” they eventually begin to realize that “winning” may not actually provide the happiness they seek. Sometimes losing is liberating. Sometimes losing is better. Sometimes losing creates a winner. Sometimes you get the easy word, and sometimes you don’t. Enjoy the show!

 -Stephanie Dean

A Little History about “The Bee”

While spelling competitions have been around for a long time, the first National Spelling Bee took place in Washington D.C. in 1925 with nine competitors and was organized by The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky. In 1941, the Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company assumed sponsorship. Today, the Scripps National Spelling Bee is held annually in Washington D.C. in late May or early June. It is open to students who have been declared champions of a final local spelling bee taking place on or after February 1st of each year, are under 15 years of age, and have not yet completed eighth grade.

There are three rounds in the national competition. The final round is broadcast on ESPN. A speller is given two minutes from when a word is first pronounced to spell it completely. For the first minute and a half, the speller is allowed to ask the pronouncer for repetition of the word’s pronunciation, a definition, sentence, part of speech, language(s) of origin and alternate pronunciation(s). The speller is able to view a monitor displaying a traffic light graphic that counts from 2 minutes down to 0. The traffic light is green until the time gets down to 1 minute and 15 seconds at which time it becomes yellow. Once the time hits the 30 second mark, the traffic light turns red. At that point the speller is not allowed to communicate with the judges or the pronouncer.

The winner of the spelling bee receives several prizes; among them a $30,000 cash prize, and an engraved trophy. There have been five competitions that have featured co-winners in the contest’s history..