The South Asian Spelling Bee is an annual 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....

 platform in the United States for children of South Asia descent. It is an annual contest tours the country each June and July in pursuit of the top two spellers from 10 cities nationwide. The competition is open to any student in the between the ages of 8 and 14, who has at least one parent or grandparent who is of South Asian descent, or whose lineage can be traced to Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Bhutan

Bhutan

Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Maldives

Maldives

The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...

, Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, and/or Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. Since its launch in 2008, the South Asian Spelling Bee has been aired in over 120 countries on Sony Entertainment Television Asia

Sony Entertainment Television Asia

For the version in India, see Sony Entertainment Television .Not to be confused with Sony Entertainment Television , the SET version in Indonesia, Hong Kong and Fiji....

 as a multi-part series.

Competition

Regional competitions are held in major South Asian American hubs across the United States. As of 2011, the bee

Bee (gathering)

A bee, as used in quilting bee, working bee or spelling bee, is an expression used together with another word to describe a gathering of peers to accomplish a task or to hold a competition. Especially in the past, the tasks were often major jobs, such as clearing a field of timber or raising a...

 visits: Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

, Dallas, Houston, Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Atlanta, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, the Washington Metropolitan Area

Washington Metropolitan Area

The Washington Metropolitan Area is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The area includes all of the federal district and parts of the U.S...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, and Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. Spellers are enrolled by a parent or guardian to participate in any one regional contest.
The top three spellers from each regional contest are awarded cash prizes. The winner and first runner-up in each of the regional contests are invited to participate in the national final, which takes place each August at North Brunswick Township High School

North Brunswick Township High School

North Brunswick Township High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in North Brunswick Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, as part of the North Brunswick Township Public Schools....

 in New Jersey. The national champion is awarded a $10,000 grand prize scholarship presented by the title sponsor.
Since 2009, MetLife has been the competition’s title sponsor and it has been called the MetLife South Asian Spelling Bee

Media Coverage of the South Asian Spelling Bee

The South Asian Spelling Bee is featured across an array of South Asians-focused as well as mainstream media outlets. Produced for broadcast on Sony Entertainment Television Asia, the regional contests and finals are aired worldwide each year.
Many South Asian-focused newspapers, feature coverage of the bee each season, from the season launch through the national finals. In light of the successes of South Asian-American students when it comes to spelling contests, the South Asian Spelling Bee has gained recognition for its role in promoting academic talent. In 2008, the Bee was noted by BBC News

BBC News

BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...

. as an emerging platform geared specifically towards this audience
In 2010, the South Asian Spelling Bee was recognized by the Wall Street Journal . as a leading academic contest for South Asian-American youth.