Contest Rule – KCIC Spelling Bee

RULES FOR KADA CITY INTER-SCHOOLS COMPETITION (KCIC) SPELLING BEE

PREFACE

We encourage spellers, parents, teachers and spelling bee officials to read these rules prior to any spelling bee. These rules are guidelines designed to assist spelling bee officials and spellers at the Kada City Inter-Schools Competition (KCIC) level. Spellers should check with their School spelling bee officials for the rules in effect in this year. Spelling bee officials include the pronouncer, judges, coordinator and sponsor.

The KCIC Spelling Bee, operates under a significantly set of rules called the Contest Rules of the KCIC Spelling Bee. These rules contain provisions that are specific to unique conditions at the event in Kaduna State University (KASU). Their successful implementation at all level will make meaning to Contestants, Schools officials and KCIC Spelling Bee officials.

The Pronouncer, judge(s) and other officials will be in complete charge of the contest. Any questions or protests about the spelling(s) of a word or the running of the contests must be referred to the officials immediately (before the beginning of the next round). Their decisions will be final in all matters.

NO PROTEST WILL BE ENTERTAINED AFTER THE CONTEST HAS ENDED!

For the contest there will be an arbiter whose duty is to hear any protests as they arise and decide on them before the contest continues. The arbiter’s decision shall be final. The competition will be held in rounds. If a competitor’s spelling of an assigned word is correct, the student takes his or her seat, if incorrect the speller leaves the stage. If all of the competitors in a round misspell, then all of the competitors will continue into the next round. If possible each contest should be videotaped or recorded so that any point of contention may be reviewed.

CONTEST RULES

RULE 1: ELIGIBILITY

A speller qualifying for the 2020/2021 KCIC Spelling Bee (the Bee) must meet these requirements:

The speller must not previously have been declared champion of the Bee.
The speller must attend a school that is officially enrolled with the Bee.
The speller must not have reached the age of fifteen (15yrs) on or before the commencement this year.
The speller must not have been less than age seven (7yrs) as at when enrolled in the Spelling Bee, the purpose of extending spelling bee eligibility. If the speller is less than age (7yrs), the speller must notify the Bee of the circumstances early and the Bee will, in its sole discretion, determine the speller’s eligibility status on or before the competition takeoff.
The speller — or the speller’s parent, legal guardian or school official acting on the speller’s behalf — must not have declared to another entity an age higher than fifteen (15yrs) or less than seven (7yrs).
The speller must not be a final year student (i.e SSIII student) on or before the resumption of school. This is to avoid distraction in preparation for their final year exams.
The speller must not bypass or circumvent normal school activity to study for spelling bees. The Bee defines normal school activity as adherence to at least four area of study other than language arts, spelling, vocabulary and etymology for at least two hours daily per week.
The speller must not have been disqualified at any level of a sponsor’s spelling bee program from previous years. Further, if the speller becomes disqualified at any level of a sponsor’s spelling bee program previous years, the speller will be ineligible to compete in the Bee and may not seek advancement in the Bee through another sponsor and/or enrollment in another school.
The speller must not have any first-, second- or third-degree relatives (i.e., sibling, parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, half-sibling or first cousin) who are current employees of The KCIC Spelling Bee Organizers.
The speller, upon qualifying for the Bee at school level, must submit a completed Contestant Registration form, a signed Parent Consent Form and a photo to the Bee. The speller will notify the Bee, at least 24 hours prior to the first day of competition, if any of the Registration form are no longer true or require updating.

RULE 2: QUALIFICATION FORMAT

The Qualifications takes place on an assign date by the organizers of the KCIC Spelling Bee, which will be communicated to the group of schools within Kaduna metropolis and other satellite towns. Venues will be communicated and time table of the competition will be released at Press Lunch every year. The best ten (10) spellers will be qualifying for the grand finals which will take place June / July every year.

The Qualifications consists of a test for the age rages 7-11 years pupils and 12-15 years within Kaduna metropolis and other satellite towns. Age ranges between 7-11 start by 8:30am to 12:00pm as the case might be. The second age ranges between 11-14 years will continue shortly from 12:30pm to 4:00pm. Schools should prepare to convey the spellers to the venue at least 30 minutes and at most 1 hour before the competition commences. The speller will be disqualified once the competition starts.

If by any reason(s) a speller could not make the competition at the arrange date of the group of schools, the schools representative should communicate to the organizers two days before the assign date to know whether the speller have opportunity to feature with other group of schools. Failure to do so will automatically disqualified the speller(s).

RULE 3: FINALS FORMAT

The Finals takes place on June/July every year and is the second of two distinct segments of the competition, Qualification and Finals. The Finals consists of rounds of oral spelling beginning with Round Four and continuing, with breaks as the officials deem necessary, until a champion is declared, or co-champions are declared.

All spellers who have not been eliminated from the competition will spell one word in each round. Upon incorrectly spelling a word during an oral spelling round, the speller is eliminated from the competition, except as provided under “End-of-Bee Procedure” herein. All spellers eliminated in the same round are tied for the same place. End-of-Bee Procedure:

If all spellers in an oral spelling round misspell, all spellers will remain in the competition and a new round begins with the spellers spelling in their original order. If only one speller spells correctly in a round, a new one-word round begins and the speller is given an opportunity to spell the next word on the list (anticipated winning word).

If the speller correctly spells the anticipated winning word in this one-word round, the speller is declared the champion. If the speller misspells the anticipated winning word in a one-word round, a new round begins with all the spellers who spelled correctly and incorrectly in the previous round: These spellers spell in their original order.

ROUND LIMIT AND PROVISION FOR DECLARATION OF CO-CHAMPIONS:

There will be no more than 25 consecutive rounds of oral spelling involving three or fewer spellers. At the end of a round when it is mathematically impossible for a single champion to emerge through oral spelling in subsequent rounds, the officials will announce a new day of the competition. The speller remaining in the competition will start all over again until a winner emerges.

THE TWO FINALISTS

The pronouncer announces the word to be spelled. He speaks slowly and clearly, without distorting the normal pronunciation of the word. The speller listens carefully to the pronouncer and asks for the word to be repeated or uses the word in a sentence if necessary. When the speller is sure she understands the word, she pronounces it, spells it and then says the word again. She must say it loudly enough for the judge to hear it. The judge(s) determines whether or not the word was spelled correctly. If the correct spelling was given, the speller remains in the game.

If the spelling was incorrect, that speller is eliminated from the game. The judge gives the correct spelling of that word. Then the pronouncer reads a new word to the next student. When there are only Two Spellers left, if one player misspells a word, the other player must spell that word correctly, plus one more word to be declared the winner of the spelling bee.

RULE 4: WORD LIST

KCIC Spelling Bee officials are responsible for selecting the word lists for use at the spelling bee. Many KCIC Spelling Bee officials use word lists generated by the Scripps National Spelling Bee. These lists include many words that appear in the current edition of the School Spelling Bee Study List and Spell It Now! (Get a Copy) as well as some unstudied “end-of-bee” words. All words on Scripps National Spelling Bee word lists are entries in Merriam-Webster Unabridged, the official dictionary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

RULE 5: OFFICIAL DICTIONARY AND SOURCE OF WORDS

Cambridge Dictionary and Merriam-Webster Unabridged, are the final authority and sole source for the spelling of words; the primary source used to craft the pronunciations, definitions and language origins for the Bee; and the only authority consulted by officials, as well as the sole source used during the Bee to verify the information in our prepared lists.

If more than one spelling is listed for a word, any of these spellings will be accepted as correct if the following three criteria are met:

The pronunciations are identical,
the definitions are identical, and
the words are identified as being variants of each other.

Spellings having temporal labels (such as archaic, obsolete), stylistic labels (such as substand, nonstand) or regional labels that differ from main entry spellings not having these status by the pronouncer, and for 10 minutes afterward.

During oral spelling rounds in the Qualification and Finals, the speller’s time at the microphone has a limit of 3 minutes. Time begins when the pronouncer first pronounces the word. For the first 1 minute and 15 seconds, the speller will have the benefit of asking the pronouncer to either repetition of the word’s pronunciation, a definition, a sentence, part of speech, language(s) of origin and alternate pronunciation(s).

RULE 6: SPECIAL NEEDS

The Bee strives to provide accommodation for spellers who have diagnosed medical conditions. All requests for accommodation of special needs should be directed in writing to the director of the Bee before June/July every year. The judges have discretionary power to amend spelling requirements on a case-bycase basis for spellers with diagnosed medical conditions.

RULE 7: PRONOUNCER’S ROLE

The pronouncer strives to pronounce words according to the diacritical markings in Cambridge Dictionary or Merriam-Webster Unabridged.

Homonyms: If a word has one or more homonyms, the pronouncer indicates which word is to be spelled by defining the word.

Speller’s requests: In oral competition the pronouncer responds only to the speller’s requests for repetition of the word’s pronunciation, a definition, a sentence, part of speech, language(s) of origin and alternate pronunciation(s). When presented with requests for alternate pronunciations, the pronouncer or associate pronouncer checks for alternate pronunciations in Cambridge Dictionary or Merriam-Webster Unabridged.

If the speller wishes to ask if the dictionary lists a specific root word as the root of the word to be spelled, the speller must specify a pronunciation of the root (not a spelling), its language and its definition. The pronouncer will grant all such requests as long as they are in accordance with time constraints outlined in Rule 5.

Pronouncer’s sense of helpfulness: The pronouncer may offer word information — without the speller having requested the information — if the pronouncer senses that the information is helpful and the information appears in the KCIC Spelling Bee word list (Spell It Now), Cambridge Dictionary or Merriam-Webster Unabridged.

RULE 8: JUDGES’ ROLE

The judges listen carefully, determine whether or not words are spelled correctly, and uphold the rules. The decisions of the judges are final.

Misunderstandings: The judges will not respond to the speller’s question(s) about the word and its pronunciation but, if the judges sense that the speller has misunderstood the word, the judges will direct the speller and pronouncer to interact until they are satisfied that reasonable attempts have been made to assist the speller in understanding the word within the time constraints outlined in Rule 5. It is sometimes impossible to detect a misunderstanding until a spelling error has been made, and the judges are not responsible for the speller’s misunderstanding.

Pronouncer Errors: The judges compare the pronouncer’s pronunciation with the diacritical markings in the word list. If the judges feel that the pronouncer’s pronunciation does not match the pronunciation specified in the diacritical markings, the judges will direct the pronouncer to correct the error as soon as it is detected. Disqualifications for reasons other than clear misspelling: The judges will disqualify a speller

(1) Who does not approach the microphone when it is the speller’s time to receive the word unless there are extenuating circumstances that, in the judges’ sole discretion, merit holding the speller’s word in reserve and offering it to the speller after all other spellers in the round have spelled and before the close of the round;

(2) Who engages in unsportsmanlike conduct;

(3) Who, in the process of retracing a spelling, alters the letters or sequence of letters from those first uttered; or

(4) Who, in the process of spelling, utters unintelligible or nonsense sounds.

Speller activities that do not merit disqualification: The judges may not disqualify a speller

(1) For failing to pronounce the word either before or after spelling it;

(2) For asking a question; or

(3) For noting or failing to note the capitalization of a word, the presence of a diacritical mark, or the presence of a hyphen or other form of punctuation.

RULE 9: SPELLER’S ROLE

The speller makes an effort to face the judges and pronounce the word for the judges before spelling it and after spelling it. The speller while facing the judges makes an effort to utter each letter distinctly and with sufficient volume to be understood by the judges. The speller may ask the pronouncer to say the word again, define it, use it in a sentence, provide the part of speech, provide the language(s) of origin and/or provide an alternate pronunciation or pronunciations. The speller may also ask root word questions that meet the specifications delineated in Rule 5.

(1) The pronouncer never provided a correct pronunciation;

(2) The pronouncer provided incorrect information regarding the definition, part of speech, or language of origin; or

(3) The speller correctly spelled a homonym of the word and the pronouncer failed to either offer a definition or distinguish the homonyms.