Mar. 2 – 4th Annual Maryland Eastern Shore Regional Spelling Bee

The 2016 edition of the Maryland Eastern Shore Regional Spelling Bee will crown a new champion Sat., March 5.

Gia Bautista of Salisbury, the winner the past two years, is now a high school freshman and is retired from competition, according to national spelling bee rules.

The fourth annual regional spelling bee will be at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, which sponsors the winner in an all-expense paid trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington. The event begins at 10 a.m. in the Ella Fitzgerald Center.

Students in grades four-through-eight who attend schools in Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties that register to participate are eligible. This year, 55 students have qualified to participate as their school representatives.

The regional bee is conducted much the same as the national competition that airs in primetime on ESPN in late May. Competitors are presented a word to spell in front of a panel of judges and an audience. Successful spellers continue to the next round, while a misspelled word eliminates the competitor.

For more information visit https://umes.edu/Bee/