Scripps National Spelling Bee

The Scripps National Spelling Bee announced in Kansas City that it would allow a top speller to participate in the national event even though she had been barred last week. "After further consideration, we've determined that Morgan Brown is eligible to compete in the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.," said Paige Kimble, director of the bee. Morgan, 12, the winner of a regional state competition, was disqualified because her school did not enroll her according to a new rule requiring individual schools, rather than school districts, to register with the national bee.

Wouldn't this be fun to hear at this year's National Spelling Bee: "May I have the definition please?" "No, you should already know it. " Well, things might not get that drastic, but for the first time in its 86-year history, the National Spelling Bee will require contestants to know what the words mean as well as how to spell them. To qualify for the semifinals and finals, spellers will be judged on a cumulative score that incorporates live spelling, computer-based spelling questions and computer-based vocabulary questions, organizers announced Tuesday.

Jonesboro, Ark., sixth-grader Morgan Sims knew how to spell "debacle," but she got an unfortunate lesson in its meaning when her school district forgot an important entry fee. Morgan correctly spelled "debacle" -- meaning failure, in an often ludicrous way -- to win the Craighead County Spelling Bee on Friday. But her school forgot to pay the $100-per-school-building entry fee to the Scripps National Spelling Bee required to advance to the state competition. Second-place finisher Elizabeth Kaffka, a fifth-grader at another school, is heading to the state competition instead.

To bee, or not to bee, has now become a tougher question to answer -- even for whiz kid spellers. The Scripps National Spelling Bee has announced that it is changing the format of its annual competition and adding multiple-choice vocabulary tests to the annual event. To qualify for the semifinals and championship round, spellers will be judged on a cumulative score that incorporates live spelling, computer-based spelling questions and computer-based vocabulary questions, organizers announced on Tuesday.

To bee, or not to bee, has now become a tougher question to answer -- even for whiz kid spellers. The Scripps National Spelling Bee has announced that it is changing the format of its annual competition and adding multiple-choice vocabulary tests to the annual event. To qualify for the semifinals and championship round, spellers will be judged on a cumulative score that incorporates live spelling, computer-based spelling questions and computer-based vocabulary questions, organizers announced on Tuesday.

Snigdha Nandipati had a personal photographer following her for much of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. When the TV camera wasn't looking, there was 10-year-old Sujan, snapping picture after picture of his big sister the national spelling champion while she met with ESPN commentators and received interview preparation. "He took the camera from me and he doesn't want to give it back," father Krishnarao said last week. "He really wanted his sister to win. " And when 14-year-old Snigdha did win on Thursday night, a national TV audience was treated to Sujan racing onto the stage and clasping his arms around his sister's waist.

A 14-year-old girl from San Diego has won the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling "guetapens," a French-derived word that means an ambush, snare or trap. Snigdha Nandipati, an eighth-grader at Francis Parker School in La Jolla, was calm and collected throughout as she beat out eight other finalists Thursday at the competition in Oxon Hill, Md. Her grandfather had reportedly promised her a trip to India if she won. She is an avid reader and coin collector who aspires to become a psychiatrist or neurosurgeon.

Sameer Mishra provided more than just comic relief at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee: He won. The 13-year-old from West Lafayette, Ind., who often had the audience laughing with his one-line quips, was all business when he aced "guerdon" -- a word that means "something that one has earned or gained" -- to win the bee Friday night.

Wouldn't this be fun to hear at this year's National Spelling Bee: "May I have the definition please?" "No, you should already know it. " Well, things might not get that drastic, but for the first time in its 86-year history, the National Spelling Bee will require contestants to know what the words mean as well as how to spell them. To qualify for the semifinals and finals, spellers will be judged on a cumulative score that incorporates live spelling, computer-based spelling questions and computer-based vocabulary questions, organizers announced Tuesday.

I'd spent 10 years drilling children for spelling tests, calling out words for my daughters to spell aloud as they prepared for their weekly exams in the car on our morning drives to school. So I didn't hesitate to accept when Walter Reed Middle School teacher Debra Vodhanel invited me to serve as the pronouncer at the local spelling bee this weekend. I'm a writer, a reader, a mother of three. How difficult could announcing a spelling list be? Extraordinarily ( ek-strawr-dn-'air-uh-lee)

My husband loves words like "leister. " It's a seven-letter word, conferring a 50-point bonus on a Scrabble player, that's made up of common letters in the game's universe of tiles. So are its anagrams "sterile" and "retiles," of course, but you can add an "s" to leister, if there happens to be a spare one on the board. But what does it mean?* At such questions, most tournament-level Scrabble players will do what my husband does -- shrug. Who cares what it means? That's not what Scrabble is about.

Snigdha Nandipati had a personal photographer following her for much of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. When the TV camera wasn't looking, there was 10-year-old Sujan, snapping picture after picture of his big sister the national spelling champion while she met with ESPN commentators and received interview preparation. "He took the camera from me and he doesn't want to give it back," father Krishnarao said last week. "He really wanted his sister to win. " And when 14-year-old Snigdha did win on Thursday night, a national TV audience was treated to Sujan racing onto the stage and clasping his arms around his sister's waist.

A 14-year-old girl from San Diego has won the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling "guetapens," a French-derived word that means an ambush, snare or trap. Snigdha Nandipati, an eighth-grader at Francis Parker School in La Jolla, was calm and collected throughout as she beat out eight other finalists Thursday at the competition in Oxon Hill, Md. Her grandfather had reportedly promised her a trip to India if she won. She is an avid reader and coin collector who aspires to become a psychiatrist or neurosurgeon.

I'd spent 10 years drilling children for spelling tests, calling out words for my daughters to spell aloud as they prepared for their weekly exams in the car on our morning drives to school. So I didn't hesitate to accept when Walter Reed Middle School teacher Debra Vodhanel invited me to serve as the pronouncer at the local spelling bee this weekend. I'm a writer, a reader, a mother of three. How difficult could announcing a spelling list be? Extraordinarily ( ek-strawr-dn-'air-uh-lee)

Jonesboro, Ark., sixth-grader Morgan Sims knew how to spell "debacle," but she got an unfortunate lesson in its meaning when her school district forgot an important entry fee. Morgan correctly spelled "debacle" -- meaning failure, in an often ludicrous way -- to win the Craighead County Spelling Bee on Friday. But her school forgot to pay the $100-per-school-building entry fee to the Scripps National Spelling Bee required to advance to the state competition. Second-place finisher Elizabeth Kaffka, a fifth-grader at another school, is heading to the state competition instead.

Sameer Mishra provided more than just comic relief at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee: He won. The 13-year-old from West Lafayette, Ind., who often had the audience laughing with his one-line quips, was all business when he aced "guerdon" -- a word that means "something that one has earned or gained" -- to win the bee Friday night.

My husband loves words like "leister. " It's a seven-letter word, conferring a 50-point bonus on a Scrabble player, that's made up of common letters in the game's universe of tiles. So are its anagrams "sterile" and "retiles," of course, but you can add an "s" to leister, if there happens to be a spare one on the board. But what does it mean?* At such questions, most tournament-level Scrabble players will do what my husband does -- shrug. Who cares what it means? That's not what Scrabble is about.

WASHINGTON, D.C. * Ninety die-hard contestants will compete today for the title of the nation's top speller after surviving the crucible of round one plus a 25-word written test in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. The written test was unprecedented but necessary to reduce the competition from three days to two, organizers said.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee announced in Kansas City that it would allow a top speller to participate in the national event even though she had been barred last week. "After further consideration, we've determined that Morgan Brown is eligible to compete in the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.," said Paige Kimble, director of the bee. Morgan, 12, the winner of a regional state competition, was disqualified because her school did not enroll her according to a new rule requiring individual schools, rather than school districts, to register with the national bee.