Reckon you could spell spontaneity off the cuff without writing it down?

I know I’d struggle…and I’m a writer!

Being able to understand, picture and then say letters in the right order was the challenge 21 Year 9 and 10 (14 and 15 year olds) students from around New Zealand had to compete in on Saturday.

The provincial winners of the Aotearoa New Zealand Spelling Bee met in Wellington, linking to seven still in lockdown-ish Auckland contestants by video.

I had the pleasure of being the pronouncer (a new word for me) for the Wellington group, as across 17 rounds it came down to the last man standing. The Auckland pronouncer was writer/actor/voice-over specialist Owen Scott.

The Spelling Bee, organised for the 14th time by Janet Lucas and sponsored by the Wright Family Foundation, is an intellectual sporting event in which there can only be one winner. You feel for each of these fine young people as they’re eliminated – some of it based on the luck, or unluckiness, of a particularly tricky word.

As one of the room co-ordinators/technicians of the City Gallery auditorium said after the event; “I was expecting it to be a bit boring and naff. But it was really exciting.”

The winner was Wellington’s Max Carter, who attends Scot’s College.

If you ever get the chance to check out such a Spelling Bee in real life – check it out. It will make you the opposite of lugubrious (mournful, sad or dismal)!

(And if your event is after a compere, MC [or pronouncer], give me a yell)