New spelling bee rule: County winner might not compete in Tri-State Bee
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[At 7 p.m. Jan. 24 at Harrisburg Middle School there will be a county spelling bee of two students from each of the county's four district's competing, but the winner will not necessarily be moving up to the Tri-State Spelling Bee in Evansville, Ind., this year.
The Scripps-Howard company that sponsors the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee has initiated a change this year, according to Assistant Regional Superintendent Kent Wheeler.
This year the top speller from each school moves up to the Tri-State Bee and the winner from that bee competes in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
The top two spellers from each school will compete in the county bee, held for the sake of tradition. Four of the county spelling bee competitors will be going to the Tri-State Bee even if they lose the county bee.
Wheeler said the Tri-State Spelling Bee competitors will attend a session in the morning that involves a written spelling test. The high scorers on the written test then attend the spoken spelling bee in the afternoon.
"Our superintendents wanted to have a county bee. It's sort of a king of the mountain," Wheeler said.
"There will be a county bee champion."
The winner will receive a trophy.
Wheeler said his understanding of the change is Scripps-Howard want more people involved in the Tri-State Spelling Bee.
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DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.</li>
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