The Columbia Missourian will sponsor the Regional Scripps National Spelling Bee contest on March 13 to determine a regional winner who will move on to the national championship in Washington, D.C.
Previously, the Columbia Daily Tribune sponsored the local event and held it at the Christian Fellowship Church. The Tribune’s decision to not sponsor this year led the Missourian to offer to take it on, said Mike Jenner, the paper’s executive editor.
“We wanted to keep it going. We believe the spelling bee is a great program for students,” Jenner said. “It improves students’ spelling skills and gives them experience speaking in front of other people. It’s really good for the kids.”
Next year, the Missourian plans to hold the competition at the Missouri School of Journalism with the help of a class that focuses on event planning and promotion.
“We will be recruiting judges, ushers, a pronouncer and other people who will be interacting with the candidates and the schools represented,” instructor Lauren Eisleben said in an email.
“We will also be working with audience engagement, budget management, the logistics of the venue and planning a refreshment menu.”
The competition will include participating winners of schools in Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Moniteau and Randolph counties.
Students through eighth grade are eligible to compete for the status of champion and a $40,000 cash award from Scripps at the national bee.
“We’ve reached out to all the schools, and they need to enroll if they want to compete by Dec. 15,” Jenner said. “They get study lists and access to spellingbee.com.”
Currently, 50 schools are sending representatives to the spelling bee, Eisleben said. The event is expected to bring visitors to Columbia for the entertainment.
“The main goal is to provide an enjoyable and memorable event for the student candidates, their families and the associated schools,” Eisleben said.
“Another goal I have is to provide a convenient, seamless event that will be carried on year after year. My hope is that the Missourian will connect with surrounding schools and our community to provide an optimal regional bee on behalf of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.”
Based on the contest’s previous structure, only one speller would be sent to nationals. However, a new rule allows more national participants. School-level winners can now apply for 225 wild-card positions at nationals, according to the Associated Press.
Although the Missourian can only pay for the regional winner’s competition and travel fees, the wild cards allow more spellers competing at MU next year to have a chance to compete at nationals at their own expense.
Nationals are held at a convention center outside Washington, D.C., around Memorial Day. The contest has progressively become more difficult since it was first nationally televised in 1994.
Previous winning words include “feldenkrais” and “gesellschaft” in 2016 and “marocain” in 2017.