Spelling Bee

The Times Spelling Bee Schools’ Championship 2009

Spell “Antidisestablishmentarianism”.

Tricky one that.

We love challenges that are a bit tricky.

The Times Spelling Bee Championship forms an important part of its education strategy. The Championship aims to increase the importance of spelling in schools, giving a fun and interactive platform from which school children could show off their spelling prowess. We were keen to differentiate The Times events from the traditional US model, emphasising the ‘team’ – not the individual.

Our role, the creation, staging and management of the events – 100 in total, including the scheduling of 89 local heats across the UK and NI and 10 semi-finals, as well as organising the high-profile Grand Final, staged at the Odeon’s West End Cinema in London.

We worked closely with The Times to create the contest format and associated software, recruited and managed two events teams (north and south), sourced prizes and goody bags, and managed all events activities on a daily basis for 3 months.

The Times invited schools from across the UK and Northern Ireland to put forward their team of their four best spellers (11-12 year olds) to take part in the live events. And almost 800 did just that!

The Spelling Bee has enjoyed immensely positive PR in both local and national press (TV, radio and print). The Spelling Bee website has been nominated for the highly coveted ‘Webby Awards’. Already, children and teachers are asking when we’re planning our 2010 schedule!

How about, “Onomatopoeic”?