In competition, after the "pronouncer" gives the speller a word, the speller will be encouraged to pronounce the word before and after spelling it, though judges may not disqualify a speller for failing to pronounce the word either before or after spelling it. The role of the pronouncer is to correctly pronounce the word and if the contestant asks, to use it in a sentence or define it.
The speller may ask the pronouncer to say the word again, define it or use it in a sentence. The pronouncer shall grant all such requests until the judges agree that the word has been made reasonably clear to the contestant. Judges may disqualify any speller who ignores a request to start
spelling.
The speller may stop spelling and repeat the letters he has given. CESA rules explain that the speller may not change the letters he has already said aloud, or change their sequence without being expelled from the competition.
The pronouncer must indicate which word is to be spelled and define it when a word has one or more homonyms. The CESA explains that if he does not do so the contestant may offer any correct spelling of the homonym and it must be accepted.
The contest is divided into rounds. Any speller who fails to spell correctly the word he is given is eliminated in that round and from the contest. Each speller who has not been eliminated in the previous round continues and is given the chance to spell one word. If the spelling is not correct, that contestant is eliminated. In this way the bee continues until only two spellers are standing.
When only two spellers remain in the contest they must eliminate one another. If the first speller cannot spell the word, then the second speller tries. If he is correct he is given the next word. If he spells that correctly he is the winner. If he fails to spell the first word correctly, the first speller is given a new word. The winner is the person who spells two words correctly.
Protests may be filed on behalf of eliminated spellers by the speller himself or his teachers, but not by anyone who wants to eliminate a third speller from the bee. The protest must be given before the speller would have received his next word and before it is given to another contestant. Protests must be spoken to the person designated by the organizers of the bee. Judges' decisions on protests and all other considerations at a bee are final.