ECC Regional Spelling Bee


Click here to see the 2023 Spelling Bee winners!

The 2024 ECC Regional Spelling Bee will be held on Saturday, April 27 at 9 a.m. in the John Edson Anglin Performing Arts Center at ECC’s Union campus. Contestants are asked to arrive by 8:30 a.m. for registration.

Only area elementary and middle school’s spelling bee champions and runner-ups are allowed to be signed up for the 2024 ECC Regional Spelling Bee. This is a one-off competition and does not lead to another spelling bee.

School officials must complete the registration form and submit champion’s and runner-up’s photos (must be a headshot), NO LATER than April 8 by 11:59 p.m.

Registration Form: https://forms.office.com/r/9BXuVZGcXX

Email headshots of your school’s winner and runner-up at: foundation@eastcentral.edu.

Registration Rules:

Spellers in The Bee must be in grades 4-8. (They must not have passed beyond the eighth grade or reached their 15th birthday on or before April 27, 2024)

Spellers must attend a school or home school organization that is officially registered with The Bee and must have won the right to compete in The ECC Regional Spelling Bee through an organized spelling bee at that school.

Each school MUST submit one named runner up who will compete in The ECC Regional Spelling Bee if the spelling bee champion is unable to attend. School coordinator must make arrangements for school to be represented at The ECC Regional Spelling Bee 2023.

Your school must submit a school photo or quality head shot of your school spelling bee champion for recognition on The ECC Regional Spelling Bee webpage.

ECC Regional Spelling Bee Rules:

1. The school champion participating in the ECC Regional Spelling Bee must be in grades four through eight and may not have passed beyond 8th grade or age 15 on or before April 27, 2024.

2. The school champion must attend a school or home school organization that is officially registered with ECC Regional Spelling Bee and must have won the right to compete in the ECC Regional Spelling Bee through an organized school spelling bee at that school.

3. If the judges are unable to determine a Regional Bee Champion through the word list provided to the schools, the pronouncer will be given additional words furnished by the East Central College English Department. These words will not be part of the spelling bee list, nor will any student be given a copy of such words. These words will be used only if necessary.

4. The pronouncer will give the word, use it in a sentence, and re-pronounce it. The contestant may request the pronouncer repeat the word, its sentence and give its definition. The pronouncer shall grant the request until the judges agree the word has been made reasonably clear.

5. In competition, after the pronouncer gives the contestant a word, the contestant should pronounce the word BEFORE spelling to show they understand the word, and AFTER spelling to signal they have finished. (However, no contestant will be eliminated for failing to pronounce a word.)

6. The contestant must begin spelling within 30 seconds after the pronouncer is finished. Judges may disqualify any contestant who ignores a request to start spelling.

7. Having started to spell a word, a contestant may begin again or retrace their spelling as long as no letters previously spoken are changed.

8. If a contestant incorrectly spells a word, they are immediately eliminated from the competition. The incorrectly spelled word is eliminated, also. The next word on the Spell Master’s list is given to the next contestant.

9. At the beginning of the round when the contestants are reduced to 10 or fewer spellers, the pronouncer will announce the round as the Finals. Contestants continue to face instant elimination until reduced to two spellers. All contestants in the finals will be awarded a medal at the end of The Bee.

10. WHEN THE CONTESTANTS ARE REDUCED TO TWO, THE ELIMINATION PROCESS CHANGES. At that point, when one contestant misspells a word, the other contestant shall be given an opportunity to spell THAT SAME WORD. If the second contestant spells that word correctly, plus the next word on the pronouncer’s list, then the second contestant shall be declared the champion.

11. If one of the last two spellers misses and the other, after correcting the error, misspells the new word submitted to them, then the misspelled word shall be referred to the first speller. If the first speller then succeeds in correcting the error and correctly spells the next word on the pronouncer’s list, then they shall be declared champion.

12. If both spellers misspell the same word, both shall continue in the contest, and the one who first misspelled the word shall be given a new word to spell. The contest continues under Rules 8 and 9.

13. Any question by a participant relating to the spelling of a word must be referred to the judges IMMEDIATELY. A question raised from the audience must be referred to a regional bee representative who will contact the judges.

14. The deadline for raising a question or making a protest is BEFORE the contestant affected would have received their next word had they stayed in the contest.

15. When only two spellers remain, a protest must be made immediately – that is, BEFORE the second speller has started to spell the word given to them, or, if both have missed the same word, BEFORE the correct spelling is given to the audience.

16. The annually published word list shall serve as the final authority for the spellings of words in this bee. If a word has two or more accepted spellings, only the spelling on the word list will be accepted as correct.

17. The judges are in complete control of The Bee. Their decision shall be final on all questions.

18. Any child having once won a National Spelling Bee championship is ineligible for competition in this activity.