Ages of eligibility vary by contest, but most children's spelling bees are designed for middle school or junior high students. The National Spelling Bee requires participants to be in the eighth grade or below and have not repeated any years between 4th and 8th grade, according to Spelling Bee.com. In addition, participants must have won a local spelling bee, according to the website. On the other hand, participants in the Brookline Education Foundation's annual spelling bee must be in the fifth grade, according to the foundation's website. The Foundation also runs an adult spelling bee as a fundraiser, according to its website.
The National Spelling Bee uses the Webster's Third New International Dictionary and its addenda as the final authority for its contest, according to Spelling Bee.com. If the dictionary includes more than one spelling, contest rules stipulate that either version may be accepted as long as the pronunciation of the word is the same. Several local events, such as the Brookline Education Foundation's Annual Spelling Bee follow the Scripps rules and use same dictionary as its source.
In addition to spellers, a spelling bee has a pronouncer and judges. The pronouncer must say the word correctly, and, if asked, provide a definition or a sentence, according the Rules for Local Spelling Bees. Judges determine if the contestant delivered the correct spelling, according to the guidelines.
Like age requirements, time constraints for contestants vary by contest. The National Spelling Bee gives its contestants two minutes and thirty seconds to complete a word and provides signals like red and green lights to monitor the time. On the other hand, participants in the Brookline Education Foundation's Annual Spelling Bee have 20 seconds to deliver the word, according to Foundation's website.
Most adults probably remember the format used in local spelling bees where contestants participate in rounds. Each contestant spells a word, and if the word is misspelled, he or she is out of the contest, according to the Brookline Education Foundation's website. If no words are misspelled, all contestants advance.
The National Spelling Bee has a more complicated system involving primaries, which are administered by a computer system and based on a point system, semifinals and the championship finals.