CanSpell National Spelling Bee
Encyclopedia
- "Canadian Spelling Bee" redirects here. The Spelling Bee of CanadaSpelling Bee of CanadaThe Spelling Bee of Canada is a charitable, educational organization founded in the Greater Toronto Area in 1987, in an initial attempt to create a national Canadian spelling bee...
, founded 1987, is a separate unaffiliated competition.
The Postmedia Canspell National Spelling Bee, formerly called the Canwest Canspell National Spelling Bee, is a spelling bee
Spelling bee
A spelling bee is a competition where contestants, usually children, are asked to spell English words. The concept is thought to have originated in the United States....
held annually in Canada since 2005. The bee is affiliated with the United States-based Scripps National Spelling Bee
Scripps National Spelling Bee
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a highly competitive annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants from other countries as well. It is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W...
and uses similar rules and word lists, adapted to best suit Canadian usage and spelling. It is organized by the Postmedia Network
Postmedia Network
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. is a Canadian media company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, news gathering and Internet operations....
, though it was previously organized by now bankrupt Canwest Global Communications
CanWest Global Communications
Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate brand Canwest, was a major Canadian media company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place...
, parent company of 9 of the regional sponsors.
Competition
As of 2011, regional finals are held in 21 Canadian cities from VictoriaVictoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
to St. John's
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
.
The winner in each of the regional finals participated in the national final in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
each April from 2005 to 2010. From 2005 to 2009, the regional winners also qualified for the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Scripps National Spelling Bee
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a highly competitive annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants from other countries as well. It is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W...
in Washington D.C. whether they won the nationals or not. In 2010, because of the economic downturn and Canwest's bankruptcy, only the winner of the nationals participated in the SNSB. In 2011, the national final took place in Toronto from March 23–28 and the top 3 finalists of the final including the champion participated in the SNSB.
The name of the competition was changed subtly in 2009 from "CanWest CanSpell" to "Canwest Canspell", in line with Canwest's elimination of CamelCase
CamelCase
CamelCase , also known as medial capitals, is the practice of writing compound words or phrases in which the elements are joined without spaces, with each element's initial letter capitalized within the compound and the first letter either upper or lower case—as in "LaBelle", "BackColor",...
spelling from its corporate brand.
In late 2010, the competition was renamed the Postmedia Canspell Spelling Bee as a result of Canwest's bankruptcy in October 2009, where Canwest's assets were sold to Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications is Canada's largest telecommunications company that provides telephone, Canada's fastest Internet and television services as well as broadcasting and soon Wifi. Shaw is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta...
and the Postmedia Network
Postmedia Network
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. is a Canadian media company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, news gathering and Internet operations....
.
Media and the Bee
When Canwest sponsored the bee, it enjoyed significant coverage from Canwest-owned media outlets. A documentary on the event was produced in 2005, a live broadcastLive television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
was aired in 2007, and edited versions of the finals were broadcasted in 2006 and 2008. These broadcasts were all aired on the Global Television Network
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
. Live webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
s are also featured each year. In 2011, CBC became the new broadcast partner and created a special one-hour primetime feature on the Canadian final called "Spelling Night in Canada". Toronto hosted the 2011 event from March 23–28 and CBC aired it on April 4.
All Postmedia daily newspapers participate in the spelling bee, with the exception of The Province
The Province
The Province is a daily, tabloid format newspaper published in British Columbia by Postmedia. It has been a daily newspaper since 1898.According to a recent NADbank survey, The Provinces average weekday readership was 520,100, making it British Columbia's most read newspaper...
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, as the company also owns the sponsoring Vancouver Sun. Postmedia's National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
, based in the Toronto area, serves as sponsor for that market. Uniquely, the Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
competition was co-sponsored by the National Post and a Canwest-owned TV station, CHCH-TV
CHCH-TV
CHCH-DT, channel 11, is a television station originating in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, with transmitters located throughout Ontario. CHCH currently operates as an independent station, having previously served as a CBC Television affiliate, and more recently as the flagship station of the...
, and not a local paper such as The Hamilton Spectator
The Hamilton Spectator
The Hamilton Spectator, founded in 1846, is a newspaper published every day but Sunday in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The paper has a daily circulation of 105,000 and a daily readership of nearly 260,000.-History:...
. Hamilton does not have a local sponsor beyond 2009, after which CHCH was sold from Canwest to Channel Zero Inc.
Channel Zero Inc.
Channel Zero is an independent Canadian broadcasting and media group, which holds assets in television broadcasting and film distribution.The company is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-Ownership structure:...
Hamilton spellers compete at the Toronto National Post spelling bee.
Other newspaper sponsors include the Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....
, The Telegram
The Telegram
The Telegram is a daily newspaper published in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.-History:The Evening Telegram was first published on April 3, 1879 by William James Herder. It adopted its current name in 1998, although it was also briefly published under this name in 1881...
in St. John's
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
, The Chronicle Herald in Halifax, The Chronicle-Journal in Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay
-In Canada:Thunder Bay is the name of three places in the province of Ontario, Canada along Lake Superior:*Thunder Bay District, Ontario, a district in Northwestern Ontario*Thunder Bay, a city in Thunder Bay District*Thunder Bay, Unorganized, Ontario...
, and The Guardian
Charlottetown Guardian
The Guardian is a daily newspaper in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.The paper was originally launched in the 1870s as The Presbyterian and Evangelical Protestant Union, owned by Presbyterian minister Stephen G. Lawson...
in Charlottetown
Charlottetown
Charlottetown is a Canadian city. It is both the largest city on and the provincial capital of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, Charlottetown was first incorporated as a town in 1855 and designated as a city in 1885...
and The Daily News in Kamloops, British Columbia
Kamloops, British Columbia
Kamloops is a city in south central British Columbia, at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River and near Kamloops Lake. It is the largest community in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and the location of the regional district's offices. The surrounding region is more commonly...
.
The Saturn brand of General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
was the presenting sponsor for 2005 and 2006. Saturn withdrew in 2007 and was replaced by Canada Post
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation, known more simply as Canada Post , is the Canadian crown corporation which functions as the country's primary postal operator...
. Other national sponsors have included Air Canada
Air Canada
Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...
, AIC Limited
AIC Limited
AIC Limited is a Canadian mutual fund company which commenced operations in 1985, as Total Finance. AIC was purchased in 1987, by Michael Lee-Chin, Chairman, and has assets under management of just over $5.6 billion as of May 2008 IFIC numbers...
, Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, the Canadian Museum of Civilization
Canadian Museum of Civilization
The Canadian Museum of Civilization is Canada's national museum of human history and the most popular and most-visited museum in Canada....
, and the Lord Elgin Hotel
Lord Elgin Hotel
The Lord Elgin Hotel is a prominent hotel in downtown Ottawa, Canada with 355 guest rooms, located at 100 Elgin Street at Laurier Avenue, across from Confederation Park...
. The current national sponsors are Egg Farmers of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
National champions
| Year | Champion | Scripps Scripps National Spelling Bee The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a highly competitive annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants from other countries as well. It is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W... Placement |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Finola Hackett | 11th place (tied) |
|
| 2006 | Finola Hackett | 2nd place |
|
| 2007 | Soohyun Park Soohyun Park Soohyun Park is a teenager from Toronto, Ontario Canada attending University of Toronto Schools who finished first in the 2007]CanSpell National Spelling Bee. For her first-place finish, Soohyun left with a $10,000 RESP prize... |
16th place (tied) |
|
| 2008 | Emma Brownlie | 46th place (tied) |
|
| 2009 | Laura Newcombe | 17th place (tied) |
|
| 2010 | Laura Newcombe | 5th place (tied) |
|
| 2011 | Laura Newcombe | 2nd place |
|
Runners-up
| Year | Person |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Edwin Ho |
| 2006 | Jennifer Hurd |
| 2007 | Amrit Sampalli |
| 2008 | Cody Wang |
| 2009 | Anna Lawrence |
| 2010 | Scott Xiao |
| 2011 | Veronica Penny |
Winning words and word runner-up misspelled
| Year | Winning Word | Runner-Up Misspelled Word |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | otiosity | brucellosis |
| 2006 | dghaisa | sacaton |
| 2007 | hypobulia | moiety |
| 2008 | hamadryad | Croesus |
| 2009 | heresimach | rechabite |
| 2010 | lidar | nomancy |
| 2011 | mycetophagous | hordeolum |
External links
- Official Canspell website
- www.sweetspelling.com70 thousand free words to practice for spelling bee - free