The format of the National Championship is quite different from that of the Regional Championships. In Regionals, there are teams of three students from every school, but only students who progress from here participate in the National event.

So each of the three age categories (15-17, 12-14 and 9-11) have nine students in the final. However, due to the security situation at the time, there were some students in each category who couldn’t make it to Karachi to take part.

The 15-17 age group was the first to start, at 9am. There were two main rounds -- the ‘Categories’ round and the ‘Rapid Bee’ round. Each student walked up to the single microphone on the stage to select one out of four categories, namely, ‘Dawn’, ‘Animal world’, ‘Geography’ and ‘Silent letters’ and had to spell five words, while not selecting the same category more than twice.

‘Dawn’ seemed to be everyone’s favourite as it included words from the newspaper which were rather common in nature. Selecting ‘Animal world’ got them to spell all kinds of difficult animal names. Most didn’t even attempt the ‘Silent letters’ category.

The ‘Rapid Bee’ round followed where one had to quickly spell a succession of words in a given time frame. Those who weren’t clear about a word called to “pass” and the pronouncer would go to the next word. Since the round was so fast, the judges sometimes needed replays too, so that they were sure a word was spelt correctly. Points were added or deducted accordingly. In case of a tie among students, there were also the sudden death rounds in between to determine the winners.

Ameena Saiyid, chairperson of the Oxford University Press (OUP), was the chief guest on the occasion. She gave away shields and prizes to the winners. There were also consolation prizes for those who could not win.

Dawn Media Group’s Director of Circulation, Niloufer Patel, thanked all the partners, in particular OUP, for their support. She also thanked the judges, pronouncers, students, parents, coordinators and school principals of the 700 schools participating from all over Pakistan.

Winners

Age group: 15-17

Muhammad Zulfiqar Ali Champion

Happy Home School, O-Levels, Karachi.

Mariam Shahabi First runner-up

Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School, Karachi.

Eeman Fatima Hamayun Second runner-up

Roots School System, DHA-1, Flagship Campus, Rawalpindi.

Age group: 12-14

Kiran Khan Champion

Convent of Jesus and Mary, Karachi.

Emman Rashid First runner-up

DHA Education System, Girls, Phase-5, Lahore.

Istaara Amjad Second runner-up

Khaldunia High School, G11/3, Islamabad.

Age group: 9-11

Syed Saad Kamal Champion

Roots International School, Gandhara Campus, Wah Cantt.

Raaed Mujtaba Ashar First runner-up

St Michael’s Convent School, Karachi. Shehzeen Suhail Farooqui Second runner-up

Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School, Karachi.

Islamabad Regional Championship

On October 2, 2018, the auditorium of International Islamic University Islamabad was packed by the contestants of DAWN Spelling Bee 2018, the most awaited and exciting inter-school spelling competition, organised by Dawn Media Group.

Early in the morning, the stage was all set to witness the most anticipated competition of this year. As soon as the event started, anxiety with excitement also started to increase. The total number of teams who participated in the competition were 200, whereas 2,000 students participated from all over the northern region, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Murree, Abbottabad, Rawalakot, Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi, Topi, Chakwal, Muzzaffarabad, Jehlum, Taxila, Wah, Attock and Kamra.

There was a spell in the air, filled with words, alphabets, definitions and spellings. Two rounds were played by each team and a short window of 40 seconds was given to each participant to spell the word. Some students were interested in knowing the meaning and origin of the word, while some were confident enough to spell it as soon as they heard it.

Nervousness could be seen on some faces when the correct answer was not known, whereas many participants were confident enough to hold their nerves under pressure and successfully make it to the next round.

The distinguish judges was arranged by Oxford University Press and moderator of the event was from Dawn.

Both audience and the panel were amazed by the passion, determination and enthusiasm of all the contestants. Their speed and precision was amazing. The best and lucky ones qualified for the National Championship rounds.

The competition came to a close with the prize distribution ceremony where regional winners were awarded with certificates and prizes.

Winners

Age group: 9-11

Regional champion: Saad Kamal, Roots International School (Ghandara Campus), Wah. First runner-up: Mustafa Shehryar Hydri, Khaldunia High School, Islamabad. Second running-up: Ayesha Ahmed, Super Nova School (Junior Branch), Islamabad.

Age group: 12-14

Regional champion: Istaara Amjad, Khaldunia High School, Islamabad. First runner-up: Sadia Alima Qazi, Khaldunia High School, Islamabad. Second runner-up: Mishal Zafar, Roots Garden School, 3 Harley, Rawalpindi.

Age group: 15-17

Regional Champion: Ibrahim Ali Khan, Froebel’s International School (F-7 Campus), Islamabad. First runner-up: Yousaf Bin Muhammad Choudhry, Bahria College (Boys Wing) Islamabad. Second runner-up: Eeman Fatima, Roots School System (DHA 1- Flagship Campus), Rawalpindi.

Regional Winners, Islamabad

Age group: 9-11

Champion: Syed Saad Kamal, Roots International School (Ghandara Campus). First runner-up: Mustufa Shehryar Hydri, Khaldunia High School. Second runner-up: Ayesha Ahmed, Super Nova School (Elementary/Junior Branch).

Age group: 12-14

Champion: Istaara Amjad, Khaldunia High School. First runner-up: Sadia Alima Qazi, Khalduniya High School. Second runner-up: Mishal Zafar, Roots Garden School, 3 Harley.

Age group: 15-17

Champion: Ibrahim Ali Khan, Froebel’s International School (F-7 Campus). First runner-up: Yousuf Bin Muhammad Choudhry, Bahria College (Boys Wing). Second runner-up: Eeman Fatima, Roots School System (DHA 1-Flagship Campus).

Karachi Regional Championship

Thump, thump, thump, went the heart as tick, tick, tick, the seconds counted. And the strange thing about it all was that it wasn’t just the young contestants of the regional championship of the 14th DAWN in Education National Spelling Bee, whose eyes darted to the electronic clock timer before them as their hearts pounded. Their teachers in the audience were as anxious and worried as them. The many sighs of sadness as well as relief were also quite audible from that side, causing the students to even miss a heartbeat or two when they spelt a word wrong.

And there was plenty of that.

This year’s Spelling Bee was given the befitting title ‘A spectacular spelling face-off’. The term ‘face-off’ means confrontation. It is usually used in sports where two opponents facing each other in a game, be it football or hockey, try gaining control of the ball between them. Here that ball happened to be the words which had to be spelled right for the contestants to move ahead in the contest. It also required keeping one’s nerves in check while being very attentive and careful too.

The first 20 seconds in the 40 given for spelling a word were for the contestants to listen carefully and ask, if they weren’t sure, for the pronouncer to repeat the word, ask its meaning or which part of speech it belonged to, and even request it being used in a sentence. But after the passing of the first 20 seconds, it was ‘do or die.’ They had to attempt to spell the word.

From past experience, we have learnt that overconfidence does not help anyone. Students who think they may know a word and quickly blurt out its spelling, have often regretted it later. In their rush, they let their teammates, teachers and school down, not to mention the embarrassment they cause to themselves.

Sometimes even if a contestant thinks they have heard a word correctly, they may not be able to spell it right if not familiar with it. Thus at this year’s regional championship in Karachi, there were students who got simple words such as ‘officiate’, ‘coronation’, ‘angina’, ‘angioplasty’, ‘ballistic’, ‘massacre’ and ‘vigilante’ all mixed up and wrong because they were not familiar with them. The familiarity, by the way, comes with increasing one’s vocabulary, which in turn takes place through reading.

A good speller should also be fond of reading, and by that one doesn’t mean the reading of course books. They should read other material such as other books (fiction or non-fiction), magazines, newspapers, and reading interesting material on the Internet such as stories, articles, blogs, etc., too is helpful.

The Deputy Head of Mission at the British Deputy High Commission, Karachi, Mark Rakestraw, the chief guest on the occasion, also observed that many students were struggling with the spellings of simple words, especially science words.

Winners

Age group: 9-11

Champion: Raaed Mujtaba Ashar, St Michaels Convent School. First runner-up: Shehzeen Sohail Farooqui, Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School. Second runner-up: Murtaza Munir Farooqui, BVS Parsi High School.

Age group: 12-14

Champion: Hiba Fatima, Convent of Jesus & Mary, Senior Section. Second runner-up: Syed Imad Ali, BVS Parsi High School. Second runner-up: Kiran Khan, Convent of Jesus & Mary, Senior Section.

Age group: 15-17

Champion: Lina Nauman, Reflections (Girls). First runner-up: Mohammad Zulfiqar Ali, Happy Home School, O-Levels. Second runner-up: Mariam Shahabi, Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School.

Lahore Regional Championship

The Lahore Regional Championship of the 14th DAWN In Education Spelling Bee Competition 2018 concluded on October 20, at the Ali Auditorium, Ali Institute of Education Lahore. Over 2000 students from 232 of the most competitive schools from different cities across Punjab proved their spelling prowess in the pool rounds held in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore.

Out of 108 students from all three age groups that qualified for the Lahore Regional Final Round, only three students per age group made it to the National Final Championship Rounds.

The schools prepare year round for this annual competition and it was particularly heartening to see a large number of schools from cities outside Lahore battling it for the Regional and subsequently the National titles.

The Spelling Bee coordinators of participating schools appreciated Dawn’s contribution in enhancing children’s language skills and inculcating reading habits. Most of the teachers felt that this entire exercise has indicated a positive, upward learning curve and simultaneously developed sportsmanship. Principals, parents and teachers were unanimously of the opinion that such competitions are a major confidence builder.

The pronouncer was Mr Tanwir Shah, the judges were Ms Shagufta Adil and Ms Khadija Khan, with Ms Rabeea Salman as the moderator. The Spelling Bee Competition is part of the DAWN In Education programme with judges and gifts courtesy Oxford University Press.

Winners

Age group: 9-11

Champion: Abeera Haider, First Steps School of Arts & Sciences, Faisalabad. First runner-up: Sana Rauf, DHA Education System, Z Block DHA, Lahore. Second runner-up: Momina Rehman, Learning Alliance, Faisalabad.

Age group: 12-14

Champion: Emman Rashid, DHA Education System for Girls, Lahore. First runner-up: Arfa Akhlaq, Lahore Grammar School, Lahore. Second runner-up: Asheera Rizwan, Beaconhouse School System, Lahore.

Age group: 15-17

Champion: Hassan Mudassir, DHA Education System — Senior Boys DHA Lahore. First runner-up Khushnaseeb Aziz, The City School, Jampur Road, DG Khan. Second runner-up: Ieman Hassan, Convent of Jesus & Mary, Lahore.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 1st, 2018