Spelling Bee Competition

A Spelling Bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. The concept is thought to have originated in the United States, and spelling bee events, along with variants, are now also held in some other countries around the world. 

A spelling bee at an elementary school, with a speller addressing an audience and a judge, with a table of contestants behind them.

Historically, the word BEE has been used to describe a get-together where a specific action is being carried out, like a husking bee, a guilting bee, or an apple bee. 'Bee' is derived from the Old English word bēn , meaning 'prayer'.

Frank Louis Neuhauser (1913-2011) was born to German American parents. His father, a stonemason, worked on spelling with his son on weekends if the weather was bad. Newhauser became an American patent lawyer and spelling bee Champion, who won the first National Spelling Bee in 1925 by successfully spellingthe word 'gladious'. Today, the bee is know as the Scripps National Spelling Bee. As well as covering the 50 U.S. states, several competitiors also come from Canada, the Bahamas, New Zealand and Europe.