The Scripps National Spelling Bee (formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and commonly called the National Spelling Bee) is an annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, New Zealand, Ghana and The Bahamas. State winners must be regional spelling-bee winners as well.
It is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Scripps Company and is held at a convention center (generally associated with a hotel), currently the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center hotel in Oxon Hill, Maryland, in the Washington, D.C., area during the week following Memorial Day weekend.
Historically, the competition has been open to, and remains open to, the winners of sponsored regional spelling bees in the U.S. (including territories such as Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with overseas military bases in Germany and South Korea). Participants from countries other than the U.S. must be regional spelling-bee winners as well.
Since 1994, the cable-television channel ESPN has televised the later rounds of the bee; since 2006, earlier rounds have aired on ESPN during the day, and the Championship Finals have aired in the evening on ESPN. Anyone who is in eighth grade or below and is under 16 years old is eligible for this contest.
Read more about Scripps National Spelling Bee: History, Recent Spelling Bees, Proposed International Bee
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