WASHINGTON, D.C. — The 98th Scripps National Spelling Bee begins on Tuesday and two Georgia students will c-o-m-p-e-t-e to see who can be named the b-e-s-t speller in the country.
Sarv Dharavane returns to the national stage for the third year in a row as the Georgia champion. The Peachtree Charter Middle School sixth grader finished third overall in last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Sreeya Lakkimsetti finished in the runner-up spot and will also compete in Washington, D.C. this week. She attends Stallings Middle School in Columbia County.
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WHAT IS THE FORMAT FOR SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE?
The Scripps National Spelling Bee’s format consists of a preliminary round, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
The first preliminary round is spelling and the second round is a vocabulary word. A contestant must answer both correctly to advance to the written test.
There are 24 spelling questions worth one point each and six vocabulary questions also worth one point each for a maximum score of 30. Spellers are grouped by their number of correct answers and the field will be narrowed down to around 100 or so quarterfinalists.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee finishes on the big stage with spellers stepping up to the microphone to spell a word or answer a vocab question. If the answer is correct, the speller stays alive in the competition. If it’s wrong, the speller is eliminated. This will repeat until there is a champion.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee can also evoke a “spell-off” for time restrictions. The contestants in the spell-off will have to spell as many words correctly within 90 seconds. Whichever speller has the most correct words or the highest percentage will be the champion.
The format does allow for co-champions. That has happened only seven times in the bee’s history.
WHAT ARE THE SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE PRIZES?
- First place: $50,000 cash, Scripps Cup trophy, $2,500 cash and reference library from Merriam-Webster, $400 in reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica and $1,000 in Delta flight credits
- Second place: $25,000.
- Third place: $15,000.
- Fourth place: $10,000.
- Fifth place: $5,000.
- Sixth place: $2,500.
- Finalists: $2,000, commemorative medal
- Semifinalists: $500 gift card, commemorative medal
- Quarterfinalists: $100 gift card, commemorative pin
Format and prize information from Spelling Bee
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