(2002) Of the nine million American students competing in spelling bees across the US, only 249 qualify for the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC. Director/producer Jeffrey Blitz followed eight of these bright juvenile orthographists from their hometowns to the Grand Hyatt Hotel where the champion correctly spelled "logorrhea," meaning "excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness" - a word that ironically and coincidentally describes goofy, gregarious Harry from Glen Rock, New Jersey, and the contest itself.

Angela, 14 years old in the 8th grade, comes from Perryton, Texas; her father, a ranch hand who doesn't speak English (neither do his cattle), came over from Mexico 20 or 25 years ago for a better life. Attending 8th grade in Tampa, Florida, studious Nupur, daughter of a Hindu-Indian family, also plays violin.

Big Ted in the 8th grade, who says he prefers math, had recently resettled with his family in Rolla, Missouri, where he didn't fit in with his rural classmates before winning the regional title. Having poise and privilege (equestrian skills), Emily, a very competitive 7th grader, resides in New Haven, Connecticut. (She was my personal favorite.)

From Washington, DC, daughter of an African-American single mother, Ashley in the 7th grade is a "prayer warrior." Another child of a Hindu-Indian family, Neil, a 12-year-old 8th grader, lives in San Clemente, California; his father hired a spelling coach and tutors for Spanish, French, and German as well as promised to pay 5,000 people in India for their prayers if his son were to win. A pessimist and vegetarian (who drinks coffee), April is a 7th grader from Ambler, Pennsylvania.

These kids strive and focus (pulled between wanting to be normal kids and being better diction nerds than anyone else) for months or years to become the best speller in America under fifteen and recipient of a $10,000 prize.

After the first round, 187 word worshipers remain; after the second round 168, after the third … In the 5th round, ESPN covers the word fest among the 48 word-perfect participants. Parents, siblings, and teachers appear on camera along with former champions, such as Frank Neuhauser (first in 1925) and the National Spelling Bee director Paige Kimble (1981).

Pronouncing rare, obscure words (words they may never encounter elsewhere) with unusual phonetic features - each carefully enunciated by Dr Alex Cameron - before tentatively (sometimes asking for definitions and etymology), artfully articulating the vocable's elements, until only two letter-perfect contestants remain. "Someone has to come in third place," says a philosophical finalist, one letter shy of being in the final round, while others share regrets or engage in logomachy.

Since every contestant is given a different word to spell, I would have liked to hear an explanation about how the judges decide that a particular group of words are believed to be equivalent in difficulty for each round. Adventitousness has a say in who wins.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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