Spelling bees of America, unite! The biggest spelling competition in the United States is around the corner — this time with a dizzying and record-breaking crowd of 500 participants. So, when is the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee? On May 29-31, you can expect to see the country's most enthusiastic spellers step on stage and get those letters rolling for the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The event will take place at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, and will go on from May 29-31. On top of the main spelling competition, there will be an additional "Bee Week" from May 27 to June 1. The good news is that if you are interested in seeing students verbally spar with each other over spellings, you can attend the initial onstage rounds on May 29 and May 30 without a ticket.
According to the National Spelling Bee website, admission to the initial rounds will be done "on a first-come, first-served basis." For the final and oft-intense round on May 31, however, attendees will have to buy tickets. For those who can't go to Maryland and watch the nation's most gifted spellers compete in person, you can watch ESPN's broadcast of the 91st National Spelling Bee. You can also check out highlights from the event later on by browsing the Scripps National Spelling Bee's official YouTube account.
There's a lot that goes into holding the annual National Spelling Bee nearly every spring in the United States. Whether it's about eligibility requisites or just how much a champion wins, the National Spelling Bee has a lot of ground to cover.
It was introduced by the Louisville-based Courier-Journal in Kentucky in 1925. Ever since then, with nine solid decades behind it, the National Spelling Bee has attracted young minds from across the country to compete for one of the nation's most illuminating titles.
For this year's National Spelling Bee, the organization noted on its website, "The Scripps National Spelling Bee welcomes applications from parents of students attending a school currently enrolled in the Bee program who won that school’s spelling bee [in 2017-2018 school year] or who formerly participated in the National Finals, including all students who traveled to Bee Week to compete — not just spellers who made it to the Thursday Finals."
There's an age requirement, too. No one older than 15 years of age can compete; there's also a little tidbit from the organization on completing eighth grade. In what seems like an effective way to rule out loopholes, the organization states, "The speller must not have repeated any grade for the purpose of extending spelling bee eligibility."
How about the prize that a Scripps National Spelling Bee winner takes home. For starters, the champion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee wins a lot of cash. The winner takes $40,000 in cash, $2,500 as a savings bond, and an additional $5,000 generously gifted by the Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation.
But that's not all. Sure, some of us really love money, but the power of the Scripps National Spelling Bee also lies in its luxurious gifts. For instance, the champion of the competition will also be given a three-year subscription to Britannica Online Premium from Encyclopedia Britannica, plus a reference library from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. For bookworms and curious people, direct and paid-for access to such resources is like heaven on earth. Finalists are also given cash prizes and gift cards.
Now that you know when the National Spelling Bee is, you can see the nation's young and bright spell oft-intimidating words. Some of the winning words from the National Spelling Bee include "chiaroscurist," "Laodicean," and a (delicious) "croissant." Who said a spelling competition can't be fun?
