In a complete turnaround from last year's National Spelling Bee when Charles Hamilton, the lone male among the 20 finalists emerged victorious, this year, the field will be evenly split -- with 10 girls and 10 boys gearing up to battle for the 19th Annual Bahamas National Spelling Bee crown, and the opportunity to represent The Bahamas at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Four returning spellers will be amongst the field vying for the elusive national title -- St. Augustine's College's Donovan Butler, Gateway Christian Academy's Keri Bowleg, C.H. Reeves Junior School student Briniqua Smith, and H.O. Nash Junior School's Jasmine Adamson.
Going up against the returning spellers for the title will be Leonardo Aritis II (St. Francis de Sales Catholic School), Charles Diggiss (The Meridian School), Benjamin Knowles (Lyford Cay International), Kendera Newton (Central Andros High), Kevano Seymour (Deep Creek Primary), Giulia Bertoldo (St. Andrew's International School), Maya Tilberg (St. Augustine's College), Khyla Jones (St. Cecilia's School), Craig Simmons (St. Cecilia's School), Paris Pickstock (Old Bight Primary), Johnathan Randall (P.A. Gibson Primary), Alanno A. Michel (Moss Town Primary), Arihanna Bullard (Maurice E. Moore Primary), William Carroll (Lower Deadman's Cay Primary), Johnathan Turner (Thelma Gibson Primary), and Jayde Watkins (Garvin Tynes Primary) comprise the field of spelling bee finalists.
The final will take place at the Crown Ballroom at the Atlantis on Sunday, March 20 at 3 p.m. with the eventual winner going on to compete at Scripps, the longest running educational promotion, administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E.W. Scripps Company and local spelling bee sponsors in the United States, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe; also The Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.
Besides a national title, Bahamian students will compete for the opportunity to move on to Scripps, which was started in 1925 after a collaboration between nine newspapers. In 1941, Scripps took over sponsorship of the National Spelling Bee. There was no Scripps competition during the war years of 1943-45. Co-champions were declared in 1950, 1957, 1962, 2014 and 2015. Of the 93 champions, 48 have been girls and 45 have been boys.
In the history of Scripps, only two winners have come from Caribbean nations -- Puerto Rico's Hugh Tosteson in 1975 who correctly spelt incisor; and Jamaica's Jody-Anne Maxwell in 1998 who correctly spelt chiaroscurist.
The purpose of the bee is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them live their lives.
Nassau Guardian General Manager Brent Dean in his written address said the company was "pleased to be a sponsor of the Bahamas National Spelling Bee competition [which] has touched the lives of hundreds of Bahamian students over the years."
The Nassau Guardian has sponsored the national champion to the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition since 1998. Participation in the competition was initially put forth by former Nassau Guardian managing editor Oswald Brown to the company's owners as a way to engage students nationwide from government and independent schools to produce a champion to participate in the prestigious Scripps competition, held annually in Washington, D.C.
An alliance was formed with the Ministry of Education, which coordinated all of the activities to cultivate a group of excellent spellers, with the assistance of the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas and the Bahamas Electricity Corporation.
"The Nassau Guardian is proud to be a supporter of the bee as a fun and educational way for students to improve their spelling and to help raise awareness of the importance of literacy," wrote Dean.
In the spelling bee's history, Grand Bahama has had the "winningest "students with seven wins, with New Providence students close on their heels with six wins. Two students from an Abaco school have taken the top honor, with one home-schooled child, Kellen Knowles, the winner in 2002.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held May 22-27 and will be televised by ESPN.
Shavaughn Moss
Guardian Lifestyles Editor
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