NZ champion speller to compete in US Spelling Bee final

After 90 minutes of high drama and suspense, Christopher Jury, a 13-year-old from Hamilton Boys High School, Hamilton, was declared the 2009 NZ Vegemite Spelling Bee Champion and the country’s representative at the 82nd Scripps Howard Spelling Bee, the Olympics of Spelling, in Washington DC from 26th-28th May.

“You could hear a pin drop in the hall. It was round after gruelling round,” said the event’s manager, Janet Lucas.

“The calibre of this year’s contestants was exceptionally high.”

Christopher’s winning word was “iterative”. The runner-up was Aiden Brock from
Scot’s College, Wellington. He tripped over the word, “pecuniary”.

Amanda Tan from Auckland’s Rangitoto College came third after misspelling the word “peloton.”

Thirteen finalists from around the country – five girls and eight boys – were brought to Wellington to compete on Saturday 21st March in the national final after winning a place in one of five regional competitions.

Winner Christopher said: “It was totally nerve-wracking. You’d spell a word right and go back feeling relieved. But straight away you’d start to get nervous again about the next round.”

Christopher says he is excited about the prospect of representing NZ at the US -final but realises he has a lot of preparation beforehand.

Christopher will spend the next two months studying the Scripps National Spelling Bee word list and reading Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, consisting of 470,000 words. He will also try to master the differences in American-English spelling.

The winner of the 2009 final is this country’s fifth representative at the US Spelling Bee, the world’s longest running academic competition and held more times than the Academy Awards. In America it attracts more than nine million competitors hopeful of winning a place in the championship final.

Ms Lucas says it is a great honour that NZ is able to participate in this competition.
The spellers work through a series of rounds, with each speller given one word per round. If they spell it correctly they progress to the next round. An incorrect spelling and a bell is rung, signalling they are out of the competition.

The NZ Vegemite Spelling Bee 2009 is open to all year nine students under the age of 16 and able to travel to the US.

Dianne Bardsley, main judge at the event and lexicographer and director at the NZ Dictionary Centre at Victoria University of Wellington, says the Spelling Bee creates excellent standards for NZ children.

“It is great, when the current mantra for standards in language and communication is ‘anything goes,’ that Janet Lucas and her band of volunteers are providing students with the opportunity to ‘get it right’ and are willing to stand up for the ideal of excellence.

“There is nothing old-fashioned about correct spelling; it is simply an ideal that conscientious teachers and parents are willing to fight for, and it’s basic for achieving clarity in communication.”

The NZ Vegemite Spelling Bee is administered by a charitable trust. Its’ purpose is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage.