It was a war of nerves and a race against time as the contestants, all top spellers from their respective schools, braced themselves for the challenges thrown their way.

As all eyes and ears focused on them and their spellings, one also could not ignore the goings-on in the audience. There were praying parents and pacing teachers within the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi.

Meanwhile, the judges and pronouncers themselves were trying to stay as calm and composed as they could despite their nerve-racking job.

And during it all, one’s eyes couldn’t help but search for that one person who built this great platform for making learning fun for school children from its inception. The absence of Spelling Bee’s founder and director Niloufer Cyrus Patel, was felt badly. The smile that gave everyone confidence that all was well, was being missed terribly. Dawn was grieving Niloufer who passed away on September 24. The 15th Dawn in Education National Spelling Bee Championship was dedicated to Niloufer.

The Dawn in Education Spelling Bee started in 2004/2005 to increase the habit of newspaper reading among students. Today it is the biggest national interschool event in the country. The Spelling Bee reaches the entire nation, with participants from Skardu, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Multan, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi battling it out for the title. Following the holding of quarter-finals in all these cities, we reached the Semi-Finals.

The Semi-Final rounds were played in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Some participants sting like a bee while some come close to the hive, but don’t get to taste sweet victory. That is what happened on Saturday, November 9, when the schoolchildren from Sindh and Quetta competed among each other to pick out the best in the region.

Each contestant was given 40 seconds from which he or she could ask the questions, such as the meaning of a word, the part of speech it belonged to and even ask for it to be used in a sentence, in the first 20 seconds, and attempt spelling it in the remaining 20.

Despite plenty of hesitation coupled with confusion, the contestants marched on into one round after another as they collected, or lost, points. Since the schools appear in teams at this level, each contestant in a team of three was also afraid of letting their teammates down in case they uttered the wrong spelling. Later, when it was over, they could all smile and put it behind them.

Winners

Age group 9-11

Regional Champion: Muhammad Faiq Qureshi, Engro Grammar School, Dharki, Sukkur; First Runner-up: Khadija Nasir, Convent of Jesus & Mary School, Junior Section, Karachi; Second Runner-up: Baakh Chandio, Engro Grammar School, Dharki, Sukkur.

Age group 12-14

Regional Champion: Syed Imaad Ali, BVS Parsi High School, Karachi; First Runner-up: Aqib Irfan, BVS Parsi High School, Karachi; Second Runner-up: Sharmeen Waqar, The City School, Gulshan, Karachi.

Age group 15-17

Regional Champion: Aamna Ahmed, Aga Khan Higher Sec. School, Karimabad, Karachi; First Runner-up: Mahnoor Jamil, Aga Khan Higher Sec. School, Karimabad, Karachi; Second Runner-up: Samir Mustafa Sheikh, Aga Khan Higher Sec. School, Karimabad, Karachi.

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