Posted on June 2, 2022 at 9:42 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
The Scripps National Spelling Bee never seemed like a relaxing, low-key event.
But the Associated Press reports that this year's bee has really ramped up the intensity.
It's back in person for the first time in three years.
And during those virtual years, organizers eliminated a written test that had determined who went to the semifinal round.
The test wasn't reinstated for this year's competition, so every contestant had to overcome three challenges in their first time at the microphone — as their welcome to the event.
First, they had to spell a word from a list of four thousand (more than twice as big as in the past), then answer a multiple-choice vocabulary test and spell a word found anywhere in Webster’s Unabridged dictionary.
Unsurprisingly, the AP noted several cases of extreme nerves among the spellers.
(Also from the AP — an update on a speller reinstated before tonight's finals.)
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