Australia’s best junior spellers will be battling it out for word skill supremacy in the second annual Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee, with registrations open from today, Monday, July 25.
From today, students from Years 3-8 can be registered for the online national competition, run by News Corp Australia’s free classroom literacy site, kidsnews.com.au.
Last year, more than 20,000 students from 450 schools magnified their indomitable skills to take part in an ambitious inaugural year of the free competition*.
The 2021 national winners were Theekshitha Karthik, 12, from Melbourne, who correctly spelt an impressive 29 out of 30 words in a speedy 1 minute and 12.7 seconds to take out the Year 5-6 age group; fellow Victorian Arielle Wong, 11, who took the title in the Year 3-4 category, with 27/30 in 1 minute 21.5 seconds; and Evan Luc-Tran, 13, from New South Wales, who notched up 27/30 in 3 minutes 6.2 seconds in the Year 7-8 category.
The trio were rewarded with a special trip to Canberra to meet the Prime Minister, along with technology and books for themselves and their schools.
In 2022, national champions will again head to the nation’s capital and also receive an iPad, a $250 HarperCollins book pack, as well as a $1000 voucher for their school to buy books, technology and other equipment.
News Corp Australia community ambassador and Herald and Weekly Times chairman Penny Fowler said the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee was an example of Kids News’ commitment to improving the literacy levels of children across the country.
“One of the fundamental stepping stones to a successful school life and career is the ability to communicate clearly through spelling,” Mrs Fowler said.
“We were so thrilled to see so many children across the country taking part in the 2021 Bee and we can’t wait to see students challenging themselves in this year’s competition.”
Kids News editor Kamahl Cogdon said kidsnews.com.au, which rewrites daily news into appropriate language for Years 3-8 students in an educational and safe online format, was committed to helping set up students for lifelong success.
“Testing your word skills in a safe digital environment is a great way to sharpen English language skills – and some of the words are quite tricky!” Ms Cogdon said.
Kids News, which is linked to the national curriculum, is read in schools in every Australian state and territory with 12.25 million page views on the site in 2021.
Registrations are open at spelling-bee.com.au from Monday, July 25 to Friday, August 19, with online school rounds from Monday, August 15 to Friday, August 26. State and territory finals will be held on Thursday, September 1 and Friday, September 2, with the national final on Thursday, September 8.
The national winners will be announced on Wednesday, September 14.