Register:

Fill out a google form that the organizers will provide you to register for the South Sudan National Spelling Bee Contest. All primary and high school students and kids are welcome to participate.

Teacher Training:

All participating schools' English Department Heads will be invited to sensitization and capacity-building workshops to learn how to best incorporate the Spelling Bee into their English lesson plans, as well as how to conduct internal school Spelling Bee contests and South Sudan National Spelling Bee (SSNSB) qualifier tests.

Preliminary Round:

All students and pupils from schools that register for the Spelling Bee Contest will complete a written test to determine who will represent the SCHOOL at the inter-school competitions. All participating schools will be required to hold internal school spelling bee competitions in order to prepare the children and pupils who will compete in the inter-school competitions. Each participating school will be able to send three (3) representatives.

County Contests:

The top three spellers from each of the participating schools who pass the written test will gather in their respective counties for the County Spelling Bee Championships, which aims to bring together the best three spellers from all of South Sudan's counties. The top three spellers from each county will compete in the state contests to represent their county.

State Contests:

The top three spellers from each county will gather in their respective states for the State Spelling Bee Contest, which aims to bring together the top three spellers from each of South Sudan's ten states and three administrative areas. The top three spellers from each state and the administrative area will compete in the South Sudan National Spelling Bee to represent their state and school.

National Contest:

For the Grand Prize and the title of South Sudan National Spelling Bee CHAMPION, the best three spellers from each state will compete! A total of 78 children and learners from all ten states and three administrative areas of South Sudan will compete for the title of Best Speller in South Sudan. The country's top three spellers will compete in the African Spelling Bee Championship.

African Championship:

The African Spelling Bee Championship brings together the finest six spellers from primary and secondary schools across Africa. South Sudan will be represented by the top three national champions in both primary and secondary schools, who will compete against spellers from over 22 African countries.

• Spellers must be extremely audible and precise in their spelling.

• Spellers must speak the word after they have finished spelling it to signify that they are finished. (A speller may be disqualified if he or she does not pronounce the words correctly after spelling them within the time limit.)

• After uttering the first letter of the word, a Speller gets 20 seconds to spell and pronounce the word.

• It is the right and responsibility of the speller to request the following:

  • Re-pronunciation

  • Definition,

  • the origin of the word,

  • sentence example,

  • part of speech,

  • tense

  • alternate pronunciation if alternative pronunciations are available, and within the allowed parameters of the rules

  • homonyms: if a word has one or more homonyms, the Pronouncer indicates which word is to be spelled by defining the word

• It is recommended that spellers employ these rights and responsibilities rather than relying solely on pronunciations.

• After pronouncing the letters during spelling, a speller cannot modify the order of the letters in a word.

• Officials have the right to disqualify any participant who refuses to spell his or her word beyond one minute.

• The Spelling Bee will be mostly done in English.

• Any complaints, suggestions, or requests for clarification should be addressed to the adjudicator.

• Before the end of the current round, any complaints about the spelling of a term must be brought up.

• The tournament will allow both American and British spellings of terms, with the "Oxford Advanced Learners English Dictionary" serving as the final authority for all pronunciations and spellings.

A Team of people to run the competitions. To run the competition, we need the following adjudication panel:

A Spelling Master - This is the person who asks the spellers to spell the words

A Checker/Adjudicator - This person checks with the Spelling Master that the speller has spelled the word correctly

A Scorekeeper - This person tracks which spellers have spelled correctly and those who have not. Those who have not been eliminated from the competition

Timekeeper - Each speller gets 20-60 seconds to spell the word. If they go over the time, they are eliminated

Program Director and Final Umpire - This person sits apart from the panel and deals with any disputes that may arise.

Spelling Master:

• Will pronounce the word as provided in the computerized audio of the official dictionary.

• Assist the spellers by also pronouncing the words that each speller will spell;

• gives the alternate pronunciation (if alternative pronunciations are available, and within the allowed parameters of the rules). This is based on the speller’s request;

• advises on the following on request: the language of origin of the word, definition, sentence example, part of speech, tenses;

• homonyms: if a word has one or more homonyms, the Pronouncer indicates which word is to be spelled by defining the word.

Adjudicator

• The adjudicator will sit apart from the Pronouncer

• The adjudicator will rule immediately on any disputes raised either by a participant or an audience member

• The adjudicator will ensure the smooth running of the competition

• assist the Primary Pronouncer by listening to the spelling of the word and determines if it is spelled correctly

• upholds the rules in determining whether or not words are spelled correctly

• works from a Name List that contains the names of all Spellers in the competition

• crosses off the names of all Spellers who are eliminated and submits their numbers

• ensures that Spellers stick to the allocated time (60 seconds) from the time they begin to spell the word

Programme Director

• Manages the proceedings according to the program

• opens the event

• Introduces the Adjudication Panel and explains the rules to the audience

• Acknowledges the spellers participating

• instructs the audience not to applaud after each contestant has spelt, but only at the end of each Round

• announces the beginning and end of each Round

• hands over proceedings to the Pronouncer