The Scripps National Spelling Bee announced on Tuesday that it would accept fewer “wild card” participants next year, in a bid to reset the competition after a stunning tie among eight champions in 2019.
Paige Kimble, executive director of the organization, said in a statement that the 2020 competition would feature about 400 spellers overall, down from a record 562 spellers this year. The change was “a direct response to survey feedback from spellers, parents and sponsors of local spelling bee programs who favored a smaller cohort of spellers,” she said.
Most participants in what is often called the “orthographic Super Bowl” win regional contests and are sponsored by a local organization to travel to Maryland to compete in the national bee. The bee began the “wild card” program, called RSVBee, in 2018, to allow spellers from regions without private sponsors or those from very competitive regions, like Houston and Dallas, a chance to participate. The families of those spellers now pay a $1,500 entry fee and bear the cost of traveling to Maryland for the competition, which is held each May.
The 2019 competition had an unprecedented outcome: the eight-way tie. The contest, first held in 1925, had seen six two-way ties, but nothing like the “octochamps,” as the winning spellers called themselves. (All eight 2019 co-champions arrived at the bee through the traditional route, while the 2018 champion, Karthik Nemmani, was a wild card.)
The organization announced it would also offer 18 scholarships to students whose families cannot afford the entry fees or the travel costs, which may help blunt criticism that the competition was affording greater access to students from higher-income families. In recent years, a cottage industry of spelling bee test prep has sprung up, including pricey coaches and online programs and fiercely competitive minor-league bees, casting another spotlight on the role that resources play in the contest.
The 140 RSVBee invitations will be drawn from seventh and eighth graders who win a school or community bee in the current school year, or who previously participated in the national finals. Valerie Miller, a spokeswoman for the bee, said the policy was intended to give students a last shot to compete because the cutoff for the contest is eighth grade.
Participants will be chosen based on past performance in bees, as well as their grade level and their region. Parents can apply online beginning Feb. 11.
Shalini Shankar, an anthropologist at Northwestern University and the author of “Beeline: What Spelling Bees Reveal About Generation Z’s New Path to Success,” said that having a smaller competitor pool would benefit all of the spellers. The last bee dragged on with so many participants, she added.
In most contests, Dr. Shankar noted, observers quickly identify a few potential champions to watch. But next year, some of the most promising spellers— those octochamp whizzes — will be ineligible, having already won a championship.
“It’s kind of a wide-open field, and that’s exciting,” she said.
