In the age of predictive text and auto correct, the Lahore Regional Championship of the 15th Dawn In Education Spelling Bee Competition concluded on November 11, 2019, at the Beaconhouse Newlands Auditorium.

It is more than testing the participants’ ability to spell words of varying degree of complexity or spelling complicated words in a room filled with parents and peers under extreme pressure. It was exhilarating to see students from over 220 schools across different cities of Punjab, participate in the Lahore leg of the competition. Young sesquipedalians were ready to show the dictionary who was the boss and their determination never broke as they worked through each unprecedented word. The competition featured strong contestants from across Punjab who were enthusiastic to engage in the war of words.

Schools prepare year round for this spelling extravaganza and realise that it’s more than rote memorisation of words. Students develop cognitive abilities and learning strategies that help them later in life. Parents and teachers also applauded the efforts of DAWN Media Group for once again organising this mind stimulating contest, with a unanimous view that vocabulary is the core component of language proficiency and better spellers were better learners.

The pronouncer was Mr Tanwir Shah and the judges were Ms Ismat Riaz, Ms Ayesha Kitchlew, Ms Uzma Khan and Ms Zujaja Naqvi with Ms Rabeea Salman as the DAWN Moderator.

The Spelling Bee Competition is part of the DAWN In Education Programme conducted this year in partnership with Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) with judges and gifts courtesy of Oxford University Press.

Winners

Age group 9-11

Regional Champion: Umar Asif, Garrison Academy, Tufail Road, Lahore Cantt; First Runner-up: Abeer Ibrahim, FFC Grammar Higher Secondary School, Sadiqabad; Second Runner-up: Nael Ahmad Sheikh, Aitchison College Lahore.

Age group 9-11

Regional Champion: Mominn Nabeel Nawaz, Aitchison College Lahore; First Runner-up: Nehal Farhan, First Steps School of Arts and Sciences, Senior Campus, Faisalabad; Second Runner-up: Aliza Kashif, First Steps School of Arts and Sciences, Senior Campus, Faisalabad.

Age group 12-14

Regional Champion: Naail Khan, Roots Ivy International School, Phase V, DHA, Lahore; First Runner-up: Arfa Akhlaq, Lahore Grammar School IAI Senior, Ghalib Market, Lahore;

Second Runner-up: Imaan Fatima, Lahore Grammar School IAI Senior, Ghalib Market, Lahore.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 7th, 2020