Spellers Creating a Buzz

The last few minutes of an exam -- pens are scribbling at a stormy pace and suddenly you have to stop writing as you cannot remember the spelling of a word. Admit it; we all had to go through moments like this. Except for a chosen few, the spellings of complicated words have been a universal problem. Moreover, with the presence of ubiquitous spell-checkers in each and every electronic gadget, evidence suggests that the spelling skills of people are getting worse. And that's where the applicability of competitions like The Daily Star Spelling Bee comes. Introduced for the first time in 2011, The Daily Star Spelling Bee, hosted by Champs21.com and powered by Horlicks, has returned for its third season. BSRM and Faber-Castell are two other sponsors of the Spelling Bee this year.
The whole competition is divided into three phases: the online round, divisional round and television round. Throughout February, more than 273,000 students from classes VI to X (except the SSC examinees and O level candidates) participated in the online round. To play the online round, spellers from across Bangladesh registered on the home page of Champs21.com, where they were given an ID and a password to play 'Spell Bangladesh' -- an online vocabulary game where they had to spell words after listening to an audio clip. Apart from that, the Champs21.com team visited hundreds of schools across Bangladesh to run activation programmes where students could register to participate in the contest and could also qualify for the divisional round after appearing on an offline spelling contest.
With 2,600 students qualifying at the first round, the divisional round kicked off from March 6. At the divisional round, the contestants will face both a written and an oral test. The divisional round will be followed by a grooming session, where a special class will be taken by a phonetic expert and the students will be informed about the different rules of spelling.
The TV round of the Daily Star Spelling Bee will consist of four rounds: preliminary, quarter final, semi final and the grand finale. There will be a number of interactive games in these rounds such as Spell It, Spell Buzz, Spell Hive and Spell Ring. The highest scorers in the four semi-finals will go to the grand finale. This year, for the first time, there will be a playoff round before the final, where the second and third highest scorers from the semi-finals will get to compete for the grand finale. 'Spelltao', a free android phone app, can help prepare for the Spelling Bee or just enrich one's vocabulary.
The champion of the season three of Spelling Bee will win an education policy worth Tk 500,000 from MetlifeAlico, and a chance of visiting Washington DC along with a parent. The 1st and 2nd runners-up in the competition will be awarded education policies worth Tk 300,000 and Tk 200,000 respectively. All the six finalists will be awarded The Daily Star Spelling Bee Trophies. Another aspect that makes Spelling Bee 2014 special is that the participants who will get top scores at 'Spell It', a special segment during each episode of the TV round, will get to donate a number of study resources to schools for underprivileged children. Sponsored by BSRM, this initiative can be a step forward to build a knowledge based society.
“Spelling Bee has come to play a big part in schools of our country. It is exactly what was needed,” says Sabina Barua, a senior teacher at Cantonment English School and College, Chittagong.  Spelling Bee has become an ideal platform where students learn how to get out of their comfort zones, face rigorous competition and make great friends. As Sunjack Jesun, the season two Spelling Bee champion says, “There are so many things Spelling Bee has given me, stuff that I know will help me be a better person, and people who'd be there to help and guide me in the long run.”