Congratulations to Anne Wright (center) of Long Beach, Calif. for correctly spelling amontillado and bombogenesis in rounds 19 and 20 to win the 18th annual National Adult Spelling Bee in Long Beach on Sunday, March 10, 2024. This is her third time to win the Bee. Second place went to Lester Kobzik, San Carlos, Calif. Third place was Vicki Craig, San Antonio, Texas. Some other words in the final rounds included carambola, acidulous, interstitial, crudites, sinsemilla, and aeolian. $1,000 National Adult Spelling Bee is Sunday, March 9, 2025, 4:30 P.M. 19th annual Sunday, March 9, 2025; 4:30 p.m. Bay Shore Church fellowship hall, 5100 E. The Toledo, Long Beach, Calif., 90803 MAP WHO MAY ENTER? Any adult, at least 14 years old, who is a resident or student in North America. Seniors welcome. FEE • $10 if received on or before March 2 • $20 if received before event day • $30 if received on event day. SPECTATE • $5 cash/per spectator, at the door  $1,000 PRIZE MONEY The winner will receive $500 and his/her favorite nonprofit organization, school, or place of worship will receive $500. RULES read these CONTACT Justin@JustinRudd.com SPONSORS PRONOUNCER Kate Karp, 2006 Adult Spelling Bee champ JUDGES 2024 judges included Cindi Rogan and Lena Ragusa DICTIONARY merriam-webster.com and dictionary.com. (note: make sure you understand the RULES, especially Rules 28 and 29) PRACTICE WORDS & ENTRANTS LISTED BELOW OUR SISTER BEE $1,000 NATIONAL KIDS SPELLING BEE SAME DAY Rudd and CAT also host the annual National Kids Spelling Bee on the same afternoon. KIDS BEE DETAILS The Bee is hosted annually by Justin Rudd and his nonprofit Community Action Team (CAT). WINNERS 2006 Kate Karp; Long Beach, Calif. 2007 Hal Prince; Palo Alto, Calif. 2008 Janice Davis; Orange, Calif. 2009 Michael Petrina; Arlington, Va. 2010 Anne Wright; Long Beach, Calif. 2011 Janice Davis; Orange, Calif. 2012 Michael Petrina; Arlington, Va.; dossier and flageolet. 2013 Jim Sherry; Troy, Ala.; quincunx 2014 Bernetta Gresko; Long Beach, Calif.; phalanx and contumacious 2015 Tony Johnson; Newnan, Ga.; curtilage and chondroitin 2016 William Thill, Los Angeles, Calif.; fulguration and parthenogenesis 2017 Kiri Wagstaff, Monrovia, Calif.; accrete 2018 Anne Johanson-Wright, Long Beach, Calif.; ess and mucilaginous 2019 Cooper Komatsu, Los Angeles; cappelletti and zoysia 2020 Cooper Komatsu, Los Angeles; schnorrer and tachyon 2021 COVID, bee cancelled 2022 Linda Marshall, Houston, Texas; peccant and oneiric 2023 Lindsey Kiser, San Carlos, Calif.; omakase and cheroot 2024 Anne Wright, Long Beach, Calif.; amontillado and bombogenesis 2025 You? Lindsey Kiser (center) of San Carlos, Calif. won the 17th annual National Adult Spelling Bee in Long Beach, Calif. on Sat., March 11, 2023. She correctly spelled omakase in Round 15 and cheroot in Round 14. She won $1,000 and will donate half to Doctors Without Borders. Second place was Linda Marshall (right) from Houston, Texas, and third place was Anne Wright (left) from Long Beach, Calif. Other words spelled in final rounds of the almost two-hour bee included kibosh, haboob, andouille, copepod, eristic and diapause. The bee is presented by Justin Rudd's nonprofit Community Action Team (CAT). GET ON OUR E-MAIL LIST To get on the Nat'l Kids Spelling Bee and/or Nat'l Adult Spelling Bee e-News e-mail lists, CLICK HERE and input your e-mail address.

Congratulations to Linda Marshall (speller 23), from Houston, Texas, for winning the 16th annual National Adult Spelling Bee in Long Beach, California, on Saturday, March 12, 2022. She correctly spelled "peccant" and "oneiric" in the final two rounds of the 16-round, 2-hour bee. The bee is hosted by Justin Rudd and his nonprofit Community Action Team (CAT) and is held annually at Bay Shore Church in Belmont Shore. Linda won $1,000 from CAT's annual Long Beach Turkey Trot 5K/10K fundraiser, and will be donating half to Doctors Without Borders. Second place went to Lewis Lenard (speller 22) from Sherman Oaks, Calif. Third place was a three-way tie for Dean Alkairy from Newport Coast, Calif., Anne Wright of Long Beach, Calif., and Lindsey Kiser from San Carlos, Calif. Kate Karp is the bee's pronouncer.


2020 WINNERS: The 15th annual National Adult Spelling Bee was hosted by Justin Rudd's nonprofit Community Action Team at Bay Shore Church in Long Beach, Calif. on March 8, 2020. Spellers came from as far as Louisiana and Texas. The bee lasted 3 1/2 hours with 33 rounds. It was a Culver City High School senior, Cooper Komatsu (left), 17, who won by correctly spelling “schnorrer” and "tachyon" in the final rounds.  Cooper will donate half of his $1,000 prize to Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., an environmental advocacy group headquartered in New York City. He also won last year's National Adult Spelling Bee.

Second place went to Dean Alkhairy (second from left), a 14-year-old eighth grader from Newport Beach, Calif., after misspelling "telamon." Third place went to Lindsey Kiser (second from right) from San Carlos, Calif., who misspelled "tetragrammaton" in round 28. Fourth place went to Mitch Powell (right) of Santa Ana, Calif., after he incorrectly spelled "boule" in round 21.

Other words spelled in final rounds included, "kapellmeister", "chaetognath", "cachinnate", "chatoyant", and "patagruelian."

PHOTOS: JustinRudd.com/2019adultbeephotos

Sixteen-year-old Cooper Komatsu (second from left) of Los Angeles won the blue ribbon and $1,000 at the 2019 National Adult Spelling Bee.

16-year-old wins 14th annual National Adult Spelling Bee

TWENTY-THREE spellers from as far as Texas competed in the 14th annual National Adult Spelling Bee in Long Beach, California, on Sunday, March 10, 2019. The bee with a $1,000 prize is hosted by Justin Rudd's nonprofit Community Action Team (CAT). The winner keeps $500 of the cash and agrees to donate the other $500 to charity.

At the end of the two-hour, 25-round bee, it was 16-year-old Cooper Komatsu of Los Angeles who won the blue ribbon and cash. He is in the 11th grade at Culver City High School. He will be donating half of his winnings to Wikipedia. He correctly spelled "cappelletti" and "zoysia" in the final two rounds to win. Anne Wright of Long Beach, California, was second place after misspelling "mavourneen." 

There was a three-way tie for third place that included 14-year-old Aren Wang, Lindsey Kiser, and 16-year-old Jem Burch. They misspelled "hemidemisemiquaver", "gardyloo" and "fescennine" respectively in round 23.

Other words in final rounds included: verisimilitude, glasnost, tetracycline, funicular, loge, osprey, jonquil, tetrad, palatinate, calumny, malefic, isthmus, avoirdupois, kewpie, scintillating, alopecia, concomitant, chimera, milieu, sidereal, panoply, inveigh, surveillance, trichinosis, and ersatz.

2018 WINNERS: After more than three hours and 32 rounds, it was Long Beach, California's Anne T. Johanson-Wright who won the 13th annual National Adult Spelling Bee at Bay Shore Church in Long Beach on Sunday, March 11. Some words she correctly spelled in the bee's later rounds included azoic in round 32, ess in round 31 and mucilaginous in round 30. She is donating half of her $1,000 prize money to School on Wheels, Inc. Anne also won the bee in 2010.

Second place went to Vicki Craig from San Antonio, Texas. She misspelled burin in round 31. A few words she correctly spelled in final rounds included galah, xeriscape, and oakum

Third place went to Jacob Williamson from Washington, D.C. It was round 27 when he misspelled fewtrils. Other words he got right in final rounds included ziggurat, volplane, and pityriasis.

The final 25 words of the bee were:
Noachian, chartreuse, ziggurat, orrery, balletomane, Pygmalion, volplane, smaragdine, Apollyon, fibrinogen, pityriasis, eisegesis, roué, mihrab, fewtrils, gurnard, galah, Aceldama, xeriscape, calyx, oakum, mucilaginous, burin, ess, azoic.

Spellers came from Washington, D.C., New Jersey, Texas, Oregon, Nevada and California.

2017 National Adult Spelling Bee champion

Congratulations to the 2017 National Adult Spelling Bee champion, Kiri Wagstaff of Monrovia, Calif. She plans to give half of her $1,000 winnings to the Monrovia Public Library. She correctly spelled "accrete" in round 16 to win the bee. In rounds leading up to the final round, she also correctly spelled "cathect", "glissade" and "dermatophyte." Accrete means to "grow by accumulation or coalescence."

Second place went to Anne Wright of Long Beach, Calif. Anne was the Bee's champion in 2010. In today's bee, she misspelled "spilth" in round 15, but had correctly spelled "morello", "pleonasm" and "gurry" in some of the earlier rounds.

2016 National Adult Spelling Bee champion

William Thill of Los Angeles correctly spelled "fulguration" and "parthenogenesis" to win the $1,000 prize at the 11th annual National Adult Spelling Bee in Long Beach, Calif. on Sunday, March 6, 2016. A few of the other words he correctly spelled in later rounds of the bee included "patzer", "pomaceous", "noetic", and "foxing." This was Thill's first time in the bee, and he works as a mathematics teacher at Harvard-Westlake School. He is donating half of his winnings to the Thrive Tribe Foundation to help "educate and empower HIV negative and positive people by applying today's science and knowledge to end HIV."

WINNING WORD MEANINGS: Fulguration is "the act or process of flashing like lightning." Parthenogenesis means "reproduction by development of an unfertilized usually female gamete that occurs especially among lower plants and invertebrate animals."

Second place went to Vicki Craig of San Antonio, Texas. She was eliminated in Round 18 of the approx. 2 ½ hour bee by incorrectly spelling "ganache." Earlier in the bee she correctly spelled "cabotage", "prolix", "facetious", and "marplot." This was Craig's second time to get second place in this bee.

Third place was a three-way tie between Mitch Powell of Santa Ana, Calif., Michael Chaskes of Los Angeles, and Anne Wright of Long Beach, Calif. In Round 16 they misspelled "prorogue", "theriac" and "cadastral," respectively.

PHOTOS: 

Registrants in the bee were from five states. The bee is hosted annually by Justin Rudd and his nonprofit Community Action Team (CAT) at Bay Shore Church in Belmont Shore. Kate Karp is the pronouncer. Judges included Willa Heart, Sharon Sueki, and Elizabeth Schirmer. The prize money comes from CAT's Long Beach Turkey Trot 5K/10K.

2015 National Adult Spelling Bee champion

THE WINNER of the 10th annual National Adult Spelling Bee was Tony Johnson of Newnan, Georgia. After 2 hours and 20 minutes of words on Sunday, March 1, 2015, he correctly spelled “curtilage” in Round 24 and “chondroitin" in Round 25 to win. He is donating $500 of his $1,000 winnings to Fisher House Foundation (www.fisherhouse.org).

2015 PHOTOS

Second place was Vicki Craig of San Antonio, Texas. She misspelled "serval" in Round 24. Third place was Jim Sherry of Troy, Alabama. Jim misspelled "subfusc" in Round 22. Fourth place went to Jan Stanakis of Huntington Beach, Calif. Fifth place was a tie between Dawn Catlett of Ventura, Calif. and Anne Wright of Long Beach, Calif.

For the adult bee, contestants must be age 14 or older. Registrants were from Alabama, California, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. Some of the words in the final rounds of the Bee included: 

• periphrasis 
• brachiate 
• lithotripsy
• cacography
• syncretism
• glaucous 
• subfusc 
• termagant 
• crural 
• curtilage 
• serval
• chondroitin

2014 National Adult Spelling Bee champion

THE WINNER of the 9th-annual National Adult Spelling Bee was Bernetta Gresko, Long Beach, Calif. She lives in the Belmont Shore neighborhood where the Bee took place. She is donating $500 of her $1,000 winnings to National Organization for Rare Disorders. After 2 hours and 10 minutes of words, she correctly spelled “phalanx” in Round 16 and “contumacious” in Round 17 to win.

SECOND PLACE WAS A TIE for Janice Davis, Garden Grove, Calif., and Anne Wright, Long Beach, Calif. Both are previous winners of this Bee. Davis and Wright got out in Round 16 after misspelling “divagate” and “prevenient,” respectively.

THIRD PLACE went to Lakshmi Gandhasri of San Jose, Calif. She misspelled "costive" in Round 13.

Adult spellers came as far as Texas and Virginia. The guest pronouncer for Round 1 was Tim Grobaty, columnist at the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The Bee is hosted annually by Justin Rudd and his nonprofit Community Action Team.

The final words in this adult bee were:
• austral
• maquillage
• forswear
• quintessence
• costive
• reify
• turpitude
• kitsch
• macadam
• basenji
• degust
• phalanx
• divagate
• prevenient
• contumacious



2013 National Adult Spelling Bee champion

Congrats to the 2013 National Adult Spelling Bee winner Jim Sherry from Troy, Alabama. Jim won the $1,000 prize in Round 27 by spelling "quincunx." In the later rounds of the Bee, he also correctly spelled "festinate", “maquette”, kludge” and “moiety.” It was his fourth time traveling to compete in the Bee. He teaches French at Troy University. The charity that he was playing for is Troy University Circle K, and they will receive his prize money. 

Top Spellers and Words They Misspelled in 2013

1st: Jim Sherry; Troy, Ala. (no misspellings)
2nd: Bernetta Gresko; Long Beach, Calif., tourbillion
3rd: Dave Lieberman; Anaheim, Calif.; etesian
4th: Thu-Hương Nguyễn, Long Beach, Calif.; cyrillic
5th: Sheila Patel, San Francisco; chiropteran
5th: Pamela Cisneros, Garden Grove, Calif.; misoneism
5th: Janice Davis, Garden Grove, Calif.; callipygian
6th: Yasemin Schatz, San Diego, Calif.; sybarite
6th: Kiri Wagstaff, Monrovia, Calif.; atrabilious

This was the 8th-annual Bee for adults. Last year’s winner was from Virginia.

PHOTOS

Second place went to Bernetta Gresko of Long Beach, Calif., after misspelling "tourbillion" in Round 26. She is a retired school teacher. Third place went to Dave Lieberman of Anaheim, Calif. He misspelled "etesian" in Round 14. Fourth place was Thu-Hương Nguyễn of Long Beach, Calif. She misspelled "Cyrillic" in Round 11. Fifth place was a three-way tie between Sheila Patel, San Francisco; Pamela Cisneros, Garden Grove, Calif.; and Janice Davis, Garden Grove, Calif.

Some words in the final rounds:

• chiropteran
• flivver
• empyrean
• misoneism
• callipygian
• nescience
• pinyin
• pyrrhic
• nonpareil
• cyrillic
• hafnium
• auscultation
• lamia
• demarche
• weisenheimer
• legerdemain
• videlicet
• seriatim
• imprimis
• etesian
• pneuma
• flocculate
• syncretic
• interrobang
• primogeniture
• espiegle
• mimesis
• interdict
• crwth
• gregarine
• gnomic
• obloquy
• argillaceous
• farrago
• dengue
• moiety
• polysyndeton
• kluge
• denouement
• maquette
• panegyric
• festinate
• tourbillion

W-I-N-N-E-R! Congrats to all the great 2012 National Adult Spelling Bee spellers who competed on April 22. Michael Petrina, far left, of Arlington, Va., won $1,000 by correctly spelling "dossier" and "flageolet." Second place was Patricia Knatz, second from left, from Studio City, Calif., after misspelling "limen" in Round 16 of the approx. 2-hour bee. Third place was a tie for Janice Davis, second from right, of Garden Grove, Calif. and Lindsay Harrison, far right, of Chico, Calif.

2012 Photos

Virginia's Michael Petrina Wins Nat'l Adult Spelling Bee for 2nd Time

THERE WERE MORE than 30 contestants from across the country that registered for the 7th annual National Adult Spelling Bee that took place in Long Beach, Calif., on Sunday, April 22, 2012. Spellers traveled from as far as Virginia, Alabama and Georgia for this Bee that has a $1,000 prize. The prize money comes from the Long Beach Turkey Trot.

MICHAEL PETRINA of Arlington, Virginia, took home the $1,000 prize at the end of the 17th Round, and is donating half of that to the Alzheimer's Association. He also won this Bee for the first time in 2009. This year's winning words for Michael were dossier and flageolet.

THE SECOND PLACE speller was Patricia Knatz from Studio City, Calif. She misspelled limen in round 16. Some of the words she correctly spelled included rupee, glyptic, lamprey and diurnal.

THIRD PLACE was a tie. The two spellers were Janice Davis of Garden Grove, Calif., and 17-year-old Lindsay Harrison of Chico, Calif. They both got out in Round 14 after incorrectly spelling architrave and golem, respectively..

THE 4TH-PLACE speller was Kiri Wagstaff of Monrovia, Calif. She got out on asceticism in Round 13.

FIFTH PLACE was a four-way tie between Thu-Huong Nguyen of Long Beach, Calif.; Nicholas Kuefler of Decatur, Ga.; Jim Sherry of Troy, Ala.; and Anne Wright of Long Beach, Calif. Words they misspelled were lachrymose, jehu, kachina and levigate, respectively, in Round 11.

MORE THAN 230 WORDS were used in the Bee. The National Adult Spelling Bee was created and is sponsored by Justin Rudd and his nonprofit 501c3 Community Action Team (CAT). They also host the annual National Kids Spelling Bee each March in Long Beach.

SOME CORRECTLY SPELLED words included cozen, kundalini, skein, and esemplastic.

SOME OTHER MISSPELLED WORDS
included sinecure, gubernatorial, longanimity, millennial, dalliance and egalitarian.




g R-E-G-I-S-T-R-A-N-T-S
2012 Spellers
WINNER Michael Petrina - Arlington, VA
2nd Patricia Knatz - Studio City, CA
3rd Janice Davis - Garden Grove, CA
3rd Lindsay Harrison - Chico, CA
4th Kiri Wagstaff - Monrovia, CA
5th Thu-Huong Nguyen - Long Beach, CA
5th Nicholas Kuefler - Decatur, GA
5th Jim Sherry - Troy, AL
5th Anne Wright - Long Beach, CA
6th Anthony Quilon - Long Beach, CA
7th Bonnie Lemke - Cypress, CA
7th Tony Vaca - Cypress, CA
7th Mark Salsgaver - Long Beach, CA
8th Jessica Ferraro - Santa Monica, CA
8th Marc Nitz - Costa Mesa, CA
8th Bernetta Gresko - Long Beach, CA
9th Linda Hernandez - Cerritos, CA
9th Sheila Nem - Long Beach, CA
9th Nancy Reppert - Lakewood, CA
10th Drew Massey - Sherman Oaks, CA
11th Mitch Powell - Santa Ana, CA
11th Roxana (Roxie) Bradley - Albuquerque, NM
11th Vicki Goodman - Long Beach, CA
12th John Szabo - Decatur, GA
12th Thao Nguyen - Cypress, CA
13th Melanie Becerril - Long Beach, CA
13th Karen Palmer - Westminster, CA
14th Moustafa Kharouta - Irvine, CA

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

4MORE PHOTOS
4GET ON THE E-MAIL LIST
4CONTESTANT LIST & MISSPELLED WORDS
4RULES

g R-E-G-I-S-T-R-A-N-T-S
2011 Spellers
1. Bernetta Gresko, Long Beach, CA
2. Lorrain D'Abate, Long Beach, CA
3. Anthony Quilon, Long Beach, CA
4. Vicki Paris Goodman, Long Beach, CA
5. Thao Nguyen, Cypress, CA 4th PLACE TIE
6. Sarah Ko, Artesia, CA
7. LeeAnn Human, Avalon, CA
8. Lisa Lyons, Los Angeles, CA
9. Maxine Abellanosa, Ontario, CA
10. Joyce Miles, Holbrook, AZ
11. Anne Wright, Long Beach, CA 4th PLACE TIE
12. Eugenia Vogel, Lomita, CA
13. Bonnie Lemke, Cypress, CA 5th PLACE
14. Atharva Patil, Irvine, CA
15. Jim Sherry, Troy, AL
16. Thu-Huong Nguyen, Long Beach, CA 3rd PLACE TIE
17. Annabel Raymond, Los Angles, CA
18. Linda J. Hernandez, Cerritos, CA
19. Mitch Powell, Santa Ana, CA
20. Janice Davis, Garden Grove, CA WINNER
21. Angela Orias, San Diego, CA
22. Joseph Gallucci, North Hollywood, CA
23. Jody Rosen, North Hollywood, CA
24. Kiri Wagstaff, Monrovia, CA 3rd PLACE TIE
25. John Szabo, Decatur, GA
26. Nicholas Kuefler, Decatur, GA 2nd PLACE
27. Amy Gerns, Topanga, CA
28. Lindsay Harrison, Chico, CA
29. Anna Vining, Long Beach, CA
30. Scot Breithaupt Jr., Los Alamitos, CA
31. Samantha Foster, Los Angeles, CA
32. Monique Villa, Long Beach, CA
33. Greer Wylder, Costa Mesa, CA
34. Evan Dorn, Altadena, CA
35. Jaime Jeldes, Long Beach, CA
36. Lindsey Wright, Newport Beach, CA
37. Karyss Gonzalez, Long Beach, CA
38. Annabel Raymond, Los Angeles, CA
39.


g R-E-G-I-S-T-R-A-N-T-S
2010 Spellers
1. Anne Wright, Long Beach, CA WINNER
2. Lucy Cordova
3. Vicki Paris Goodman, Long Beach, CA
4. Thao Nguyen, Cypress, CA
5. Bernetta Gresko, Long Beach, CA
6. Ethan Bradley, Long Beach, CA
7. Ruth Cone, Pomona, CA
8. Amy Gerns, Topanga, CA
9. Linda Hernandez, Cerritos, CA
10. Bonnie Lemke, Cypress, CA
11. Julia Ly, Tustin, CA
12. Randy Hilfman, Woodinville, WA
13. Jim Sherry, Troy, AL
14. Mary Sim Fasang, Long Beach, CA
15.Thu-Huong Nguyen, Long Beach, CA
16. David Riddle, Pacific Grove, CA
17. Lorraine D'Abate, Long Beach, CA
18. Nancy Reppert, Long Beach, CA
19. Tony Vaca, Cypress, CA
20. Sharlene Wills, Los Angeles, CA
21. Madonna Cadiz, Los Angeles, CA
22. Drew Massey, Sherman Oaks, CA
23. Janice Davis, Garden Grove, CA
24. Carol Smith, Irvine, CA
25. Shawndell Clay, San Jose, CA
26. Jessica Ferraro, Santa Monica, CA
27. Kali Woods, Los Angeles, CA
28. Darcy Leigh Richardson, Long Beach, CA
29.
30.

g R-E-G-I-S-T-R-A-N-T-S
2009 Spellers & Misspelled Word
1. Mitch Powell, alopecia
2. Sharlene Wills, potpourri
3. David Deutsch, restaurateur
4. Jean Ballantine, tremolo
5. Vicki Paris Goodman, chrysalis
6. Bernetta Gresko, concomitant
7. Anne Wright, abomasum
8. Tulip Mitchell, liqueur
9. Mary Barton, mere
10. Nicole Campbell, cappuccino
11. Dea Smith, prepossessing
12. Adriean Mancillas, pancreas
13. Ruben Mancillas, milieu
14. Michael Petrina WINNER
15. Thu-Huong Nguyen, anthophilous
16. Elizabeth Schoeppner, panoply
17. Josephine Ha, criterion
18. Sandy Nang
19. Lisa Damico, inveigh
20. Nancy Reppert, novocaine
21. Ruth Cone, trichinosis
22. Sharon Kellogg, peevish
23. Victoria Meza
24. Thomas Beharrell, cipher
25. Jessica Ferraro, risorgimento
26. Bonny Chou,
27. Traci Swartz, mannequin
28. Cindy Benes, festoon
29. Dan Wong, carnassial
30. Janice Davis, droshky
31. Nancy Brown, apostrophe
32. Mark Scott, pirouette
33. Amy Vaughn, coliseum
34. Kiri Wagstaff, latkes
35. Carolyn Libuser, transient
36. Amy Gerns, mufti
37. Kris Kahrs, bouillon
38. Alluri Varma
39. Sara Rhodes, pasteurization
40. Andrea Gohlke, avoirdupois
41. Michelle Kim, deuteragonist
42. Joel Bryant, accede
43. Rachel Rosen
44. Lisa Peskay Malmsten, marionette
45. Christine Danella, jacquard

E-MAIL LIST SIGN-UP

To get an e-mail reminder about the next National Adult Spelling Bee CLICK HERE to get on bee organizer Justin Rudd's e-mail list.

g A GROWN-UP BEE
Adults Were Abuzz in Long Beach After Two-Hour 2008 National Bee

2008 Winner
Janice Davis, Garden Grove, Calif.
Correctly spelled decoupage and isinglass. She won $1,000 after 37 rounds! She'll be donating $500 of that to her favorite charity, Set Free Christian Ministries in Orange, Calif.
2nd Place
David Riddle, Pacific Grove, Calif. Misspelled axolotl.
3rd Place
Michael Petrina, Arlington, VA. Misspelled aikido.
4th Place
Christy Ewing, Long Beach, Calif. Misspelled tilde.
5th Place
Vicki Paris Goodman, Long Beach, Calif. Misspelled burgher.

g ALL EYES ON YOU
What's In a Word?

PLENTY, ESPECIALLY when it's the rigors of a traditional spelling bee and one of the participants has the opportunity to walk home with a grand title! Words like extraterrestrial, meringue, fiery and phylum must be spelled and spelled correctly under the watchful eyes and ears of judges.

IF THAT IS NOT CHALLENGING enough for an adult, it must be done while their peers and families, who are also nervously awaiting their opportunity to shine, look on.

The National Adult Spelling Bee is designed to help adults and students in high school and college improve their spelling, increase their vocabulary, and develop correct English usage. This contest is sure to have some nail-biting, breath-bating competitors.

g SOME ROUNDS MAY INCLUDE THESE WORDS
A Few Practice Words

absence, acceptable, accessible, accidentally, acclaim, accommodate, accomplish, accordion, accumulate, achievement, acquaintance, acquit, across, advertisement, aggravate, alleged, amateur, apparent, appearance, argument, atheist, attendance, auxiliary, balloon, barbecue, barbiturate, beggar, beginning, believe, bellwether, biscuit, bouillon, Buddha, camouflage, cantaloupe, category, cemetery, chagrined, changeable, characteristic, changing, chief, cigarette, collectible, colonel, colossal, committee, commitment, committed, comparative, competent, completely, concede, conceive, condemn, condescend, conscience, conscientious, consciousness, consensus, consistent, continuous, controlled, coolly, corollary, convenient, correlate, correspondence, courteous, courtesy, criticize, daiquiri, deceive, defendant, deferred, definite(ly), dependent, descend, desirable, despair, desperate, develop, development, difference, dilemma, disappearance, disappoint, disastrous, discipline, dispensable, dissatisfied, dominant, drunkenness, dumbbell, ecstasy, efficiency, eighth, either, eligible, embarrass(ment), equivalent, exaggerate, exceed, excellence, exhilarate, existence, experience, experiment, explanation, extremely, exuberance, Fahrenheit, fallacious, fallacy, familiar, fascinate, feasible, fictitious, fiery, financially, fluorescent, forcibly, forfeit, formerly, foresee, forty, fourth, fulfill, fundamentally, gauge, grievous, guerrilla, guidance, handkerchief, harass, height, heinous, hemorrhage, heroes, hesitancy, hierarchy, hindrance, hoarse, humorous, hypocrisy, hypocrite, idiosyncrasy, ignorance, imaginary, immediately, implement, incidentally, incredible, independence, independent, indicted, indispensable, inevitable, influential, inoculate, intelligence, intercede, interference, interrupt, irrelevant, irresistible, jealousy, judicial, knowledge, laboratory, legitimate, leisure, length, lenient, liaison, license, lieutenant, likelihood, liquefy, longitude, loneliness, maintenance, manageable, maneuver, medieval, millennium, millionaire, miniature, minuscule, mischievous, misspelled, mortgage, mosquito, mosquitoes, murmur, mysterious, narrative, necessary, necessity, ninety, ninth, noticeable, nowadays, nuisance, occasionally, occurred, occurrence, octopus, omission, omitted, onomatopoeia, opponent, opportunity, oppression, ordinarily, outrageous, overrun, panicky, parallel, parliament, particularly, pastime, pavilion, peaceable, peculiar, penetrate, perceive, performance, permanent, permissible, permitted, perseverance, persistence, physician, picnicking, pigeon, pilgrimage, pitiful, planning, pleasant, portray, possess, possessive, potato, potatoes, practically, prairie, preference, preferred, prejudice, preparation, prescription, prevalent, primitive, privilege, probably, procedure, prominent, pronounce, pronunciation, propaganda, psychology, publicly, puerile, pursue, quandary, quarantine, questionnaire, quizzes, realistically, recede, receipt, receive, recognize, recommend, reference, referred, relevant, relieving, religious, remembrance, reminiscence, repetition, representative, resemblance, reservoir, resistance, rheumatism, rhythm, rhythmical, roommate, sacrilegious, sacrifice, safety, salary, satellite, scary, secede, seize, separate, septuagenarian, sergeant, shepherd, simile, soliloquy, sophomore, souvenir, specifically, specimen, spontaneous, strength, strenuous, stubbornness, subordinate, subpoena, succeed, success, succession, sufficient, supersede, suppress, surprise, susceptible, suspicious, syllable, symmetrical, synonymous, tangible, technical, technique, temperature, tendency, themselves, theories, therefore, thorough, through, tournament, tourniquet, transferred, truly, twelfth, tyranny, unanimous, undoubtedly, unnecessary, vacuum, valuable, vengeance, vigilant, villain, violence, weird, wherever, wholly, yacht

g GOOD TO KNOW
Elimination

ADULTS ARE ELIMINATED from the competition after misspelling one word. The rules are fashioned after the National Spelling Bee -- a contest for students up to and including grade eight.

g NATIONAL ADULT SPELLING BEE
Bee Rules

1. Any adult, at least 14 years old, who is a resident or student in the United States, may enter and participate.

2. This bee uses these dictionaries ONLY: merriam-webster.com and dictionary.com

3. The entry fee is nonrefundable and nontransferable.

4. The difficulty for words in the competition will start at a middle school level.

5. The judges are in complete control of the competition, and their decision shall be final on all questions. All rules are subject to modification by the judges and/or the event organizer, Justin Rudd.

6. There is not an official study booklet for this competition.

7. All participants are expected to be signed-in at the event location no later than 30 minutes prior to the announced starting time of the contest.

9. The bee only offers one prize -- $1,000 to the winner, and $500 of that must be donated to the winner's favorite charity, school or place of worship. . There are no runner-up prizes/ribbons or participant certificates.

10. The role of the pronouncer(s) is (1) to correctly pronounce the word and (2) to give a sentence, definition, and other information about the word at the speller's request. The pronouncer(s) may offer information about a word without having requested it.

11. The role of the judge(s) is to determine whether the contestant has spelled the word correctly.

12. The role of the speller is (1) to gather as much information as possible to help spell the word correctly and (2) to spell the word correctly.

13. In competition, after the pronouncer gives the speller a word, the speller is encouraged to pronounce the word before spelling it and after spelling it. The judges may not disqualify a speller for failing to pronounce the word either before or after spelling it.

14. The speller may ask the pronouncer to say the word again, define it, use it in a sentence, provide the part of speech, and/or provide the language of origin. The pronouncer shall grant all such requests until the judges agree that the word has been made reasonably clear to the speller. The pronouncer and judges will not entertain root word questions.

15. The judges may disqualify any speller who ignores a request to start spelling.

16. The judges may not disqualify a speller for asking a question.

17. Having started to spell a word, a speller may stop and start over, retracing the spelling from the beginning. In retracing, however, there can be no change of letters or their sequence from those first pronounced. If letters or their sequence is changed in the respelling, the speller will be eliminated.

18. The competition shall be conducted in rounds. Each speller remaining in the spelling bee at the start of a round shall spell one word in the round. Upon missing the spelling of a word, a speller immediately drops out of the competition. The next word on the pronouncer's list is given to the next speller.

19. Under no circumstance is any speller asked to correct the misspelling of another speller.

20. If none of the spellers remaining in the spelling bee at the start of a round spells a word correctly during that round, all shall remain in the competition with the spellers spelling in the original order.

21. All spellers eliminated in the same round will be tied for the same place.

22. The pronouncer and judges are not responsible for the speller's misunderstanding(s) after any exchange of information between the speller and pronouncer(s).

23. If only one of the spellers remaining in the competition at the start of a round spells a word correctly during that round, a new round shall begin and the speller shall be given an opportunity to spell the next word on the list. If the speller succeeds in correctly spelling the new word, the speller shall be declared the champion. Otherwise (that is, if the speller does not succeed in correctly spelling the new word), all the spellers remaining in the competition at the start of the previous round shall remain in the competition. A new round will begin, with these spellers spelling in the original order.

• The champion is not the champion until he or she has spelled correctly two more words than the speller or spellers placing second have spelled. These two words will be spelled consecutively only if the champion is the last speller in a round.
• It is possible in two instances to have a round in which only one word is spelled. The first instance of a one-word round is the correct spelling of the final championship word. The second instance of a one-word round is the misspelling of what could have been the final championship word.

24. Any question relating to the spelling of a word should be referred to the designated official immediately, that is, before the speller affected would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the contest.

25. The judges will not entertain appeals from individuals seeking to dislodge another speller from the competition. The deadline for filing an appeal is before the speller affected would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the competition. No appeal will be entertained after that word has been given to another speller.

26. REMOVED

27. If a word has one or more homonyms, the pronouncer will indicate which word is to be spelled. If the listed word is not properly identified, either by defining it or distinguishing the homonyms, any correct spelling of any homonym of the word will be accepted.

28. The speller shall not be disqualified for failing to note that a word is capitalized (noted as "cap," "usu cap," "often cap," or "sometimes cap."

29. The dictionary provided by the judges shall serve as the final authority for the spelling of words. If more than one spelling is listed for a word, any of these spellings will be accepted as correct if the word either matches the pronunciation and definition provided by the pronouncer or if it is clearly identified as being a standard variant of the word that the speller has been asked to spell. Spellings at other locations having archaic, obsolete, or regional labels (such as North, Midland, Irish, British) that are different from those at the main entry will not be accepted as correct.

WHAT ELSE DOES C.A.T. DO?
Details about the Community Action Team C.A.T. and their more than 30 annual Long Beach events and projects are at www.JustinRudd.com.