Jezebel: Spelling Bee

Hairy Word Ends This Year's National Spelling Bee

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:51:00 EDT

The Scripps National Spelling Bee ran late tonight when the last five contestants spelled 21 consecutive words without a miss. Finally, each botched a word, leaving only 14-year-old Sukanya Roy of South Abington Township, Pennsylvania. Roy took home $40,000 in cash and prizes after correctly spelling cymotrichous, which means having wavy hair. "I went through the dictionary once or twice," she said, "and I guess some of the words really stuck." More »

Can I Hear It In A Sentence?

Anna Holmes — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:10:00 EDT

[Washington, D.C., June 3. Image via Official White House Photostream]

Watch Spelling Bee Champ Shame Neil Patrick Harris And Kelly Ripa

Margaret Hartmann — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:30:00 EDT

Today Anamika Veeramani, the new National Spelling Bee champ, missed her 8th grade graduation to compete in Regis & Kelly's spelling contest. She easily beat Kelly and guest co-host Neil Patrick Harris, who couldn't even handle the dumbed-down "celebrity" word. More »

Eighth-Grade Girl Wins National Spelling Bee

Hortense Smith — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 15:00:00 EDT

Congratulations to Ohio's Anamika Veeramani, who won this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling the word "stromuhr," which, according to Webster's, is a "rheometer designed to measure the amount and speed of blood flow through an artery." [MSNBC] More »

Protesters Demand Spelling Bee Get Hooked On Phonics

Katy Kelleher — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:30:00 EDT

Four adults dressed in bee costumes appeared yesterday outside the Grand Hyatt where the Scripps National Spelling Bee is being held. They were, oddly enough, there to protest words. More »

A Bee In Her Bonnet

Anna Holmes — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:10:00 EDT

[Washington, D.C., June 3. Image via Getty]

Brought To You By The Letters A, A, R And P.

Sadie Stein — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:20:00 EDT

We're all for the notion of the AARP National Spelling Bee championship, but 50 and over seems to take in a lot of territory! Was winner 64-year-old Michael Petrina Jr. of Arlington, Va., competing against people his dad's age? [NPR] More »

Spelling Bee Champion, Family Talk To GMA

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:40:00 EDT

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In the clip at left, Good Morning America anchor Chris Cuomo interviews National Spelling Bee winner Kavya Shivashankar, who explains how she prepared for the bee. Cuomo asks Kavya's little sister about following in her footsteps, but she doesn't appreciate his early-morning perkiness after such a late night. More »

13-Year-Old Kansas Girl Wins Spelling Bee

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:30:00 EDT

Last night, Kavya Shivashankar, an aspiring neurosurgeon from Olathe, Kansas, took home the trophy at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. At the age of 13, this was her last chance to win the title. More »

Magnificent Obsession: Spelling Bee Semifinals Are Written On The Wind!

Sadie Stein — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:20:00 EDT

Only one thing could do justice to the drama, pain and glory of the semifinals of this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee: the films of Douglas Sirk. More »

Awesome Moment From Daytime TV

Anna Holmes — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:30:00 EDT

The lovely young woman at left is Kavya Shivashankar, who you may remember from this post. Anyway, Kavya - and a group of other smart, spirited young Americans - just finished up the Scripps National Spelling Bee preliminaries...and we've got a cute clip. (Added bonus: Kavya's sister makes an appearance.) More »

Spell/Check

Anna Holmes — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:10:00 EDT

[Washington, D.C., May 26. Image via AP]

Shakespeare Hits Sing Sing • Menopausal Women Exhibit Difficulties Learning?

Katy Kelleher — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:30:00 EDT

• This month, inmates at Sing Sing performed Shakespeare's "Macbeth" as part of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, with convicted killer Dario Pena as the violent king. "The character just jumped out at me," he said. "I could identify. I saw a lot of myself in the character." • More »

What Makes The Spelling Bee So Special?

Dodai Stewart — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:30:00 EDT

"There couldn't be a spelling bee in German, or Japanese, or French, or any other language. English is a voracious melting pot of a language." — Jacques Bailly, 1980 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner and currently the official pronouncer. The Bee begins today; finals will be televised Thursday. [Time, SpellingBee.com] More »

Perhaps you've seen Ashley White before:...

Dodai Stewart — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:20:00 EDT

Perhaps you've seen Ashley White before: She appeared in a documentary called Spellbound, about the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee. One of the few African-American youngsters featured, Ms. White had a photographic memory and dreams of becoming an obstetrician. By the time the movie was released, in 2002, Ms. White was 18. She was also a mother. And she went from temporary home to temporary home before ending up in a homeless shelter. But this Saturday, Ashley White will be graduated, magna cum laude, from Howard University. Her post-Spellbound life included working part-time jobs and not losing hope. Her daughter, Dashayla, is 4 years old and will enter kindergarten in the fall. Ms. White says: "Now that I'm here, I'm going to get my master's degree, and once I get my master's degree, it'll be, 'I'm going to get my PhD.'" [Washington Post, AshleyWhite.org] More »