From shock to relief: See the emotional spectrum at the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Hundreds of young word whizzes have turned out to compete in the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US.
The bee, which started on Tuesday, features 243 students, with at least one from each state, as well as spellers from Canada, Germany, Ghana, Kuwait and Nigeria.
Just 99 spellers remained on stage by the quarterfinals held on Wednesday, which narrowed the field to 57 semifinalists.
By the time the finals are held on Thursday, local time, only about a dozen competitors will still be in contention.
The winner receives a custom trophy and more than $US50,000 ($75,000) in cash and prizes.
The national bee's preliminaries consist of one spelling round and one multiple-choice vocabulary round.
Those who make it through the preliminaries sit for a written spelling and vocabulary test, with the top 100 or so finishers advancing to later rounds.
The words for the test, and for all subsequent rounds, are taken from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.
Throughout the quarterfinals and semifinals, spellers are eliminated at the microphone through oral spelling or vocabulary questions.
The annual competition was first held in 1925 when The Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington, DC.
Here are some of the scenes from the competition so far:
AP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
28 minutes ago
- News.com.au
NEWS OF THE WEEK: Sean ‘Diddy' Combs accuser sues Harvey Weinstein for sexual assault
Crystal McKinney, a former model, accused the disgraced movie mogul of sexually assaulting her and a friend at a hotel in New York City in 2003. The lawsuit against Weinstein was first filed anonymously on 28 February. It claimed that a modelling company executive set up a meeting for McKinney to "discuss a potential business opportunity" with Weinstein one evening on the pretence that meeting Weinstein would allow McKinney to "make it big". In her lawsuit, she alleged that the executive told her, "Don't f**k him until he puts you in a movie'.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
NEWS OF THE WEEK: Miley Cyrus reveals reason for previous rift with Billy Ray Cyrus
Last month, the Flowers hitmaker revealed she and her father had "done a lot of healing" following long-standing feud rumours. Speaking to The New York Times recently, Miley indicated her parents' divorce after nearly three decades together led to the conflict. "I think timing is everything. As I've gotten older, I'm respecting my parents as individuals instead of as parents - because my mom's really loved my dad for her whole life and I think being married to someone in the music industry and not being a part of it is obviously really hard.'
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
NEWS OF THE WEEK: Sydney Sweeney discusses collapse of her engagement
The 27-year-old Euphoria star had been engaged to longtime partner Jonathan Davino, 41, for three years before they abruptly split earlier this year. The TV star has been reasonably tight-lipped over the end of her relationship but has now given a very to-the-point response when discussing her romantic life. Opening up to The Sunday Times, Sweeney was asked if she was still planning her wedding - and she bluntly replied, "No." Delicately pressing on, the interviewer then asked the actress if she was single, and she confirmed her status by responding, "Yes."
