The Franklin Global SpellEvent is a global spelling competition for nonnative English speaking students under the age of 15 sponsored and organized by Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc., in partnership with TESOL International Association.

The Global SpellEvent consists of two stages. First, a local event will be held in each participating country, resulting in the selection of a 1st place winner. Second, this winner will travel to the United States for the final event in either New York City or Washington, DC in August 2012, where they will compete against the winners from other countries. The champion at the final event will receive a scholarship valued at US $10,000.

Rules

School Eligibility

Local affiliates will select schools to participate in each country. The schools may be private or public. Schools must not:
1. Be a dual language school
2. Be an English-medium school
3. teach more than 2 classes in English (in addition to an English language class)
School Eligibility
1. Local affiliates (TESOL or other designated) will invite schools in each country to identify participants for the local event. A participant in a local event must be a student in good standing at one of these schools.
2. A participant must not have reached his or her 15th birthday as of December 31, 2011 (i.e., the participant must not have been born before January 1, 1997).
3. A participant must not be a native speaker of English.
4. A participant must not have any parent or legal guardian who is a native speaker of English.
5. A participant must not be a citizen of, or have dual-citizenship with, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, or any country where English is an official language.
6. A participant must not have attended school in any English-speaking country for more than one academic semester.
7. A participant must not attend an English-medium instruction school or have attended such a school for more than one academic semester.
8. A participant must not have more than two classes (outside of the language class) be in English.
9. A participant must not be a first or second place winner of a previous local event.
10. A participant must not be a winner of any other spelling competition that includes a trip to the United States as a result.
(If the student is later found to be ineligible, they will be disqualified)
Before the local event, the participant must submit a participation form signed by a parent or legal guardian and an official of the participant’s school that affirms the participant is eligible to participate. No registration forms will be accepted on-site at the competition.
To participate in the SpellEvent Championship in the United States, a participant must:
1. be the first place finisher at a local event or, in the event that finisher cannot attend, a second place finisher;
2. have submitted to Franklin properly executed consent and release forms not later than 30 days before the SpellEvent Championship; and
3. Obtain the necessary documents for travel to the United States, such as valid passport and visa (if required).
Word Source

All Spelling words for the local events and the SpellEvent Championship events will come from Merriam-Webster’s Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary (Franklin model BES-2150). For the SpellEvent Championship, words will come from this source and may also be supplemented by words from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition (Franklin model SCD-2100). Franklin will provide official word lists to the pronouncer and judges at the start of each local event and the Global SpellEvent Championship. Additionally, Franklin has posted practice materials on the SpellEvent Web site (www.SpellEvent.org).
NOTE: The practice words will be used in both the local events and the SpellEvent Championship during the first three rounds, including the practice round. Beyond those rounds words not listed in the practice word list will be used.

Organization of Rounds

Up to 100 registered participants may participate at the local event. Each local event will begin with a practice round providing each participant a chance to spell a practice word. This round will not count as a competition round, but will give each participant the opportunity to review the procedure and understand how the flow of the local event. There are no eliminations in the practice round.

In Round 1, each participant will have a chance to spell a word that is read to him or her by the pronouncer. If the participant spells the word incorrectly, he or she will be eliminated from further rounds in the event. Each participant who correctly spells a word will return to his or her seat and will continue in the next round

Each round is completed when all participants has had a word to spell. In Round 2 and succeeding rounds, each remaining participant will have a chance to spell a word. These rounds will continue until there are four competitors remaining. The final four will then move into the championship rounds.

During the championship rounds, when more than one participant is eliminated at the same time, there will be a “spell off” in order to determine their ranking prior to moving on to the next round. When two participants are remaining, if the first participant spells his or her word incorrectly, the second participant must spell his or her word correctly in order to be declared the champion of the local event. If the word is not spelled correctly, then both participants return to the stage and the round is continued until one participant remains.

Each participant who participates in a championship round will receive a ranking from first to fourth place in the local event.
Contest Rules
Participants are not allowed to have any writing implements or materials during the event.

At the beginning of each participant’s turn, the pronouncer will say the spelling word out loud. The participant must repeat the word back to the pronouncer. If the pronouncer feels the participant has not understood the word, he or she may repeat the word, or ask the participant to repeat it until the pronouncer feels satisfied that the participant has understood the word.

If a judge feels that the pronouncer has given an incorrect pronunciation of a word, the judges will confer to reach a decision. The judges have the authority to throw a mispronounced word out, if necessary. The 2-minute clock will not start until the judges have agreed and the pronouncer has clarified the pronunciation for the participant.

At this point the pronouncer will start the 2-minute clock; the participant must give an answer within this time limit. The participant may ask the pronouncer to provide the following information for the word: 1) alternate pronunciation, if any, 2) the first dictionary definition, including part of speech, and 3) an example sentence. This information will be part of the word lists provided by Franklin.

If the participant has not begun spelling his or her word when there are approximately 30 seconds remaining of his or her 2-minute period, the pronouncer should remind the participant of the time and instruct him or her to spell the word

Once the word has been spelled, the pronouncer will confer with the judges and inform the participant whether the spelling was correct or incorrect. If the judges do not feel they heard the spelling correctly, they may ask the participant to repeat it. The participant may not, at this point, change his or her original spelling of the word. The 2-minute time clock no longer applies during such a request. If the spelling was incorrect, a judge will ring the bell and the pronouncer will provide the correct spelling of the word.

The main criteria for the judges will be whether or not the participant has correctly spelled the word within the 2-minute time limit. For example, though it is customary for a participant to pronounce the word before and after spelling it, failure to do so would not be grounds for elimination; if the spelling word was “contest” and the participant said, “contest, c-o-n-t-e-s-t,” that would be judged correct, even though he or she did not repeat the word after giving the spelling.

The judges will eliminate a participant who starts spelling a word, then starts over and changes the original spelling given. However, the participant may retrace his or her spelling by starting over without changing the original spelling given. The following are examples of what is and is not allowed, using “contest” as the spelling word:

Not allowed: “c-o-m…(pause)…c-o-n-t-e-s-t”
Allowed (retracing): “c-o-n…(pause)…c-o-n-t-e-s-t”
Awards For each local event:

st Place: trophy, Franklin Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary product, and all-expenses paid trip (including lodging, meals and US$50 spending money) to the Championship Event in the United States for 3 nights in August 2012 for participant and a parent or legal guardian

2nd Place: Trophy, Franklin Dictionary product
rd and 4th Place: plaque, Franklin Dictionary product
For the Global SpellEvent Championship:
1st Place: trophy, scholarship valued at US$10,000
2nd Place: plaque, scholarship valued at US$2,000
3rd Place: plaque, scholarship valued at US$800
4th Place: plaque, scholarship valued at US$400
5th Place and lower: certificate, scholarship valued at US$100
NOTE: 1st through 4th place scholarships are wired to the winners after the SpellEvent
Championship. 5th place and lower receive $100 in cash at the SpellEvent Championship.

For Download:

2012 SpelleventOfficial Rules