Should the National Spelling Bee reorganize itself as a truly international event? It may be just the shake-up that’s needed for this languishing cultural institution
The English language is perfect for spelling bees. It’s replete with loanwords borrowed from dozens of languages, from Amharic to Zuñi. Its basic vocabulary is challengingly variegated, composed of three substrates, one Latin, one Norman French, and one Germanic, each with different spelling patterns. In principle, any country in the Anglophone world – and, as the existence of Yup’ik, Spanish, Iñupiaq, and Diné spelling bees demonstrates, even non-Anglophone countries – could hold spelling bees. Yet, for whatever reason, spelling bees haven’t really taken off in Canada or Britain. They seem to be uniquely American, perhaps because they reward hard work and tap into cultural memories of schoolhouses and quaint pioneer traditions. The fact that bees are uncompromising – that spelling is sudden death – lends competitions an inherent telegenicity. And as we all know, Americans love a good episode of reality TV.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year, with a new executive director at the helm who I hope will be successful in restoring stability to the Bee. The last few years have been tumultuous. Several months into the pandemic, the 2020 Bee was abruptly canceled. Despite calls to extend eighth graders’ eligibility owing to these extraordinary circumstances, Bee officials denied eighth graders the chance to participate in 2021, dashing the hopes of many students who had dedicated hundreds of hours to studying in hopes of winning the coveted loving-cup trophy. The year 2021 saw the inauguration of controversial new rules which essentially converted the bee into a spelling-and-vocabulary competition and introduced a new finals format reminiscent of TV game shows: a 90-second “spell-off” can now be invoked by judges to prevent co-champions. The fact that spelling errors during the spell-off don’t disqualify spellers effectively eliminates the all-or-nothing quality which gives bees their exquisite drama. Since 2019, the Bee has been contending with alleged cheating scandals at regional bees, reduced revenue, regional sponsor shortages caused by local newspapers’ demise, and diminished publicity due to demotion from primetime ESPN to Ion. It’s high time to shake things up a bit.
Scott Remer is a professional spelling bee tutor, freelance writer, and the author of the textbooks Words of Wisdom: Keys to Success in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Sesquipedalia!: A Rigorous Vocabulary Study Guide, and Regional Bee Ready!. He is also the coach of the Ghana Spelling Bee champions.
