April 23, 2021
13
WASHINGTON (AP) The Scripps National Spelling Bee is undergoing a major overhaul to ensure it can identify a single champion, adding vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker to this year’s pandemic-altered competition.
The 96-year-old bee has in the past included vocabulary on written tests but never in the high-stakes oral competition rounds, where one mistake eliminates a speller. The only previous tiebreaker to determine a single champion was a short-lived extra written test that never turned out to be needed.
The changes, announced this week, amount to a new direction for the bee under executive director J. Michael Durnil, who started in the job earlier this year.
Vocabulary, lightning round added to National Spelling Bee
Poll
Yes
FILE - In this Friday, May 31, 2019 file photo,T he eight co-champions of the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee, from left, Shruthika Padhy, 13, of Cherry Hill, N.J., Erin Howard, 14, of Huntsville, Ala., Rishik Gandhasri, 13, of San Jose, Calif., Christopher Serrao, 13, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., Saketh Sundar, 13, of Clarksville, Md., Sohum Sukhatankar, 13, of Dallas, Texas, Rohan Raja, 13, of Irving, Texas, and Abhijay Kodali, 12, of Flower Mound, Texas, hold the trophy at the end of the competition in Oxon Hill, Md. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is undergoing a major overhaul to ensure it can identify a single champion, adding vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker to this year s pandemic-altered competition, Friday, April 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
The Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US is undergoing a major overhaul to ensure it can identify a single champion, adding vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker to this year’s competition.
The 96-year-old contest has in the past included vocabulary on written tests, but never in the high-stakes oral competition rounds, where one mistake eliminates a speller.
The only previous tiebreaker to determine a single champion was a short-lived extra written test, which was never required.
Scripps National Spelling Bee to test spellers with new on-air elements in 2021 competition. Read the press release:@ScrippsBeehttps://t.co/YqS5fm24LDpic.twitter.com/fNS8sdiORG
Ben Nuckols
FILE - In this Friday, May 31, 2019 file photo,T he eight co-champions of the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee, from left, Shruthika Padhy, 13, of Cherry Hill, N.J., Erin Howard, 14, of Huntsville, Ala., Rishik Gandhasri, 13, of San Jose, Calif., Christopher Serrao, 13, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., Saketh Sundar, 13, of Clarksville, Md., Sohum Sukhatankar, 13, of Dallas, Texas, Rohan Raja, 13, of Irving, Texas, and Abhijay Kodali, 12, of Flower Mound, Texas, hold the trophy at the end of the competition in Oxon Hill, Md. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is undergoing a major overhaul to ensure it can identify a single champion, adding vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker to this year s pandemic-altered competition, Friday, April 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
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