Spelling Bee Oral Competition Begins

WASHINGTON – The oral competition of the 77th Scripps National Spelling Bee got off to a fast start Wednesday as 16 of the first 20 children offered correct spellings.

A total of 265 spellers are competing for a grand-prize package of $17,000 in cash and other prizes, including $12,000 and an engraved cup from the bee itself.

As the first speller on stage, Laura Brown had to take on “laloplegia,” the word meaning paralysis of the muscles involved in speech.

She got it right in about 10 seconds. Then the 12-year-old from Birmingham, Ala., gave up center stage to Irene Park, 14, of Anchorage, Alaska, who was not derailed by her word either: “derailleur,” a device for shifting gears on a bike.

No speller was immediately eliminated for missing a word on stage during the first oral round. Instead, those who got their word right were awarded three bonus points, to be tallied with their scores from a 25-word written test from Tuesday.

Based on those combined scores, bee organizers planned to narrow the field to at least 90 spellers for further competition on Wednesday. The final rounds take place Thursday.

Other stumpers from Wednesday’s oral competition were “widdershins,”"hauberk,”"putrescible,”"gallimaufry,” and “salicylate.”

The bee put the written test first this year after some spellers in earlier competitions said they could have done well on it but were finished after one jittery mistake on stage.

Another change in format: For the first time, spellers will face a strict time limit per word of two minutes, followed by a final 30-second period with a countdown clock. Those who don’t comply are disqualified.

As more spellers take longer at the microphone, the bee has been grappling with how to rein in the time, knowing that each lengthy spelling erodes the concentration of other children and bee officials.

The old rules gave judges the discretion to determine when a speller took too long, which was an unfair burden on them, said Paige Kimble, the bee director.

“We decided to take a more direct approach to it, and this is it,” said Kimble, who won the bee in 1981.

There’s a new look this year, too. The stage backdrop is a collage of photos of past bee participants, with their expressions showing the joy and exasperation of competition. Gone are the oversized newspaper clippings of previous winners.

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On The Net:

Scripps National Spelling Bee: http://www.spellingbee.com