Where do we find the Bee words?

The list of words for the Bee will be made available to paid participants at the end of February/early March. But how is the list made?

In the past, we relied on the Scripps National Spelling Bee Paideia, the word book used by students as they prepare for the National Bee. We were able to buy the books and give them out to our contestants, occasionally with supplements to make the Dover Bee a more challenging and entertaining experience for all.

This year, Scripps is not selling word books, but rather encouraging participants to download a word booklet from their website (www.myspellit.com). We are, therefore, compiling our own list of words--some from the Scripps group, some from on-line word-a-day websites and calendars, some from past years' words (like pharaoh, still my all-time favorite), and some from our own vocabularies and spelling weaknesses. People associated with libraries tend to be interested in words, and some of us never seem to run out of them! We anticipate having to use about 200 words on the night of April 3rd, but will distribute a much larger study list.

If you have any ideas for good spelling words, send them to us at dovertrustees@hotmail.com. You never know, your word might make the final list!