Spelling Bee of Canada | Spelling Bee of Canada

Rules and Regulations

An official will read rules 1 to 15 aloud before the beginning of each contest and, when the number of competitors has been reduced to two, the official will read rules 16 to 17 unless those present agree unanimously to waive the reading of the rules.
The Pronouncer, judge(s) and other officials will be in complete charge of the contest. Any questions or protests about the spelling(s) of a word or the running of the contests must be referred to the officials immediately (before the beginning of the next round). Their decisions will be final in all matters.

NO PROTEST WILL BE ENTERTAINED AFTER THE CONTEST HAS ENDED.
For each contest, there will be an Arbiter whose duty is to hear any protests as they arise and decide on them before the contest continues. The Arbiter’s decision shall be final. If possible, each contest should be videotaped or recorded by bee officials so that any point of contention may be reviewed.
This competition is open to all contestants ages 6-8 (Primary), 9-11 (Junior), and 12-14 (Intermediate).
In competition, all words will be chosen from official lists compiled from the Oxford Dictionary and provided by Spelling Bee officials. The official list is the final spelling authority for the competition.
In-Person Competition: Preliminary rounds will be held in each chapter, using official word lists and the listed rules and regulations. Online Competition: Preliminary rounds will be held in each region over Zoom, using official word lists and the listed rules and regulations.
The competition will be oral; contestants must spell the words orally and the use of pens and/or pencils and paper will not be allowed.
Contestants may pronounce their words before spelling them, after spelling them, or not at all.
For all words with capitals, the speller must indicate the capital. For example, if the given word is “Ottawa'' the speller must say “Capital O t-t-a-w-a.”
Once a contestant has begun to spell a word, they may not ask for a word to be re-pronounced, defined, or used in a sentence. Also, having started to spell a word, a contestant will not be given an opportunity to change letters already pronounced. A speller may retrace provided that letters and their sequence are not changed in retracing. Spellers must make it clear that they are going to retrace before they start retracing. (i.e., by asking, “May I start again?”). Spellers are required to indicate capitals. Apostrophes and other punctuation are not required.
If a word taken from the word list is unclear to a contestant, they may ask for the word to be re-pronounced, but will not be given a definition or a sentence, unless the word is a homophone in which case the Pronouncer must give the definition and an example sentence without being asked. The contestant must give the spelling of the word as defined, not a homophone of the word.
If a word has more than one acceptable spelling, any spelling listed in the word list, tie-breaker list, or the Oxford Dictionary for that word will be accepted.
Officials may disqualify any contestant who ignores a request to start spelling their word within a reasonable length of time. Also, A SPELLER WHOSE SPELLING OF A WORD IS NOT AUDIBLE TO THE OFFICIALS MAY HAVE THEIR SPELLING RULED INCORRECT.
When a speller fails to spell a word correctly, the next contestant, in the same round, will be given the same word to spell.

Note: Rule 15 is for the tie-breaker rounds only. (Please note that during the tie-breaker rounds, a new list of words is introduced. These words are not listed in the Official Primary Study List, 2021 Edition). The table officials will announce, “We are now switching to the tiebreaker round.”
If a tiebreaker word is unclear to a contestant, it is the responsibility of the contestant to request that the word be re-pronounced, defined, and/or used in a sentence. The Pronouncer will grant the request(s) until the officials agree that the word has been made reasonably clear to the contestant. If a word is a homophone, the Pronouncer must give the definition and an example sentence without being asked.
The elimination procedure changes when the number of contestants is reduced to two. At this point, when one contestant misspells a word, the other contestant will be given the opportunity to spell the same word.
If the second contestant spells the word correctly, plus the next word on the Pronouncer’s list, then they will be declared champion. If the contestant misspells the word on the Pronouncer’s list, then both spellers continue in the contest.

If both contestants misspell the same word, then both continue in the contest.

ONLINE RULES

Please carefully read all the online-specific rules and guidelines for the SBOC online competition. These online rules are in addition to the manual rules in this SBOC study guide (word list). For online competitions, we may opt to have 2 study guide-based rounds before we switch to the tie-breaker round.

If you have any issues or concerns regarding accessibility or accommodation, please notify SBOC via email at least 2 weeks in advance of the competition.

At the beginning of the competition, the Judge will read the Pledge of Honour, and contestants will be asked to verbally affirm that they will compete in a fair and honest manner and not lie, cheat, or commit other offenses that would make the competition unfair for others.

You will receive a warning upon violation of 1 or more of the following online rules. Contestants are subject to disqualification upon receiving 3 violations.

Please ensure you adhere to the online rules below (lettered A to O):

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Please ensure you meet the technology requirements found on the Zoom support page to participate in the online competition. Refer to our technical guide or general outline below:

A. A desktop, laptop, or mobile device with a webcam and microphone or wired headphones where the Zoom app or web interface can be utilized.

B. A webcam video quality depicting the distinct and discernible features of the contestant and a microphone audio quality that produces clear and crisp sound.

C. A strong internet connection. Run a free internet speed test here: click this link.

(Recommended 50Mbps Down, 10Mbps Up | Minimum 3Mbps Down, 0.3Mbps Up)

LIVESTREAMING TECHNOLOGY

D. The video conferencing platform Zoom will be used to host the online spelling bees. Parents/contestants must sign up using the Zoom registration links distributed to you in order to participate in the online competition.

E. Contestants must be punctual -- no contestants will be allowed to join the Zoom session after the event begins. Contestants are reminded that they are representing SBOC, their chapter, and their school in a public event, and should dress accordingly.

F. By registering for the Spelling Bee, you acknowledge that competitions and other SBOC events in which you participate may be recorded and broadcast, and consent to the use of your image for this purpose.

SETUP, LOCATION, & SURROUNDINGS

G. Contestants should set up in a space to participate from that is private, well-lit, indoors; and try to avoid open spaces. Please make others aware that you cannot be disturbed and ensure as little background noise and distractions as possible.

H. Contestants must be visible to the officials from the waist up including both hands at their sides. Contestants must be at least 1 meter (or arm’s length) from the device screen and maintain eye focus on the camera while attempting to spell. They should ensure they are in a space where they are able to fulfill these requests.

I. All items that contain words should be removed from the room or covered up such that the words are not visible to the contestant. Please cover up items containing words with a non-transparent piece of cloth, blank board; use non-transparent tape on objects that cannot be removed

J. Contestants should be alone in the room. For the Primary category (ages 6-8), a parent may be present to help the child set up for their turn. During the contestant’s turn, the parent may be silently seated behind their child.

K. Parents or audience members are not permitted to help contestants during their turn, nor are contestants allowed to use any spelling aids, or else the contestant will be disqualified at the discretion of the officials. Possible reasons for disqualification include voices in the background, reading off of materials, use of additional devices, camera turning off, and looking off-camera while spelling.

TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETENCY

L. Contestants should ensure that there is proper internet quality throughout the competition such that there are no lags and glitches in the visual and audio recording being captured. Contestants are encouraged to test-run their streaming quality on Zoom (for free) prior to the date of the competition.

M. At no point can the contestant’s camera or audio be inaccessible to the officials during the competition. Video or audio errors may be considered reasonable cause for disqualification. Certain technological errors may be forgiven on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Arbiter, but repeated issues may result in disqualification. Although we try to support contestants’ participation to the best of our ability, we unfortunately cannot wait on all of the technical issues that may arise to be resolved.

N. Wired headphones may be used if needed, but wireless headphones are not permitted. Contestants should ensure that their device is plugged in during the competition.

O. A spelling that is inaudible to the officials may be ruled incorrect. Particularly with Zoom, contestants should remember to speak slowly, loudly, and clearly. An external microphone can also be used to improve audio. At the discretion of the officials, a contestant may be given the opportunity to repeat a spelling that was interrupted by audio difficulties, but these additional attempts are limited.

SPELLING GUIDELINES

Final consonant doubled

A word ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel generally doubles the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel, if it is a word of one syllable or if the accent falls on the final syllable of the original word: plan, planning, planned; refer, referring, referred; bid, bidding, bidden; acquit, acquitting, acquitted; commit, committing, committed.

Exceptions: devil, devilish; benefit, benefited.
When a word ends in L, the final consonant is usually doubled before a suffix: cancel, cancellation.

NOTE: Words ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel do not double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel if a shift of accent results from addition of the suffix: prefer, preference; confer, conference.
Final E
- Words ending in a silent E usually drop the E before a suffix beginning with a vowel; dine, dining; trouble, troubling, subdue, subduing; desire, desirable.
  - Exceptions: dyeing, singeing (to distinguish from dying and singing), shoeing, canoeing
- Words ending in silent E generally retain E before a suffix beginning with a consonant: complete, completeness; enforce, enforcement; vague, vagueness; manage, management, engage, engagement; use, useful; care, careful.
  - Exceptions: argument, truly, ninth
Final Y
- Words ending in Y preceded by a consonant change Y to I before a suffix: heavy, heaviest; lively, livelihood; salary, salaried; necessary, necessarily.
- Words ending in Y preceded by a vowel generally retain Y before a suffix: annoy, annoyance, annoying; journey, journeyed; gay, gayest.
Final C
Words ending in C with the hard sound of K – add K before I, Y or E; picnic, picnicking; panic, panicky; traffic, trafficking; mimic, mimicked.
5. Final N
Words ending in N retain the N before the suffix – ness; Sudden, suddenness; clean, cleanness; keen, keenness.
6. Words with IE and EI
An easy way to remember the rule for IE and EI is to learn the following rhyme:
I before E
Except after C
Or when sounded like A
As in neighbour and weigh
e.g. believe, reprieve, receive
Words with ABLE and IBLE
In writing the adjectival form of certain words there are no definite rules but the following guides may be helpful. Words ending in –ation, usually take the suffix ABLE; duration, durable; adaptation, adaptable; words ending in –sion or –tion usually take the suffix IBLE; division, divisible; permission, permissible; destruction, destructible.
Words prefixed by DIS or MIS
When the prefix DIS or MIS is added, no change is made in the original word. A double S occurs only where the original word begins with S: disappear, misdirect, dissatisfied, disrobe, misbelieve, misspelled.
Plurals
- When a noun ends in Y preceded by a consonant, the plural is formed by changing Y to I and adding ES (to the singular): variety, varieties; monopoly, monopolies.
- When a noun ends in Y preceded by a vowel, the plural is formed by adding S to the singular: holiday, holidays; journey, journeys; attorney, attorneys.
- When a noun ends in O, the plural in most cases is formed by adding S to the singular: piano, pianos; ratio, ratios. Sometimes the plural is formed by adding ES to the singular: potato, potatoes; veto, vetoes.
- When a noun ends in F or FE the plural in most cases is formed by adding S to the singular: sheriff, sheriffs; plaintiff, plaintiffs; staff, staffs; safe, safes. Sometimes the plural is formed by changing F or FE to V and adding ES: knife, knives; shelf, shelves.
- The plural is formed in some nouns by a vowel change instead of by the addition of a suffix: goose, geese; man, men; mouse, mice; foot, feet.
- Some words retain their original Greek or Latin plural forms. The singular and plural forms are given here: analysis, analyses; basis, bases; phenomenon, phenomena; parenthesis, parentheses; hypothesis, hypotheses.
- Some nouns are rarely if ever used in the singular: annals, athletics, clothes, nuptials, scissors.
- In compound nouns the plural is usually added to the last member, but sometimes the first member: passerby, passersby; son-in-law, sons-in-law; coat-of-arms, coats of arms; court martial, courts martial.
Alternative Spelling
In competition, spellings that are thought to be “American” will be accepted so long as they are recognized in the Oxford Dictionary.