ANNOUNCED: The 7th annual $1,000 National Adult Spelling Bee will be held Sun., April 22, 2012, 2 p.m., at Bay Shore Church, 5100 E. The Toledo, Long Beach, Calif. MAP

$1,000 National Adult Spelling Bee Sun., April 22, 2012; 2 p.m. Bay Shore Church, 5100 E. The Toledo, Long Beach, Calif., 90803 MAP WHO MAY ENTER? Any adult, at least 16 years old, who is a resident or student in the United States. 2012 ENTRY FEE save $10, compared to previous years' fees 4 $20 paid by/on Mar. 22 4 $30 paid after Mar. 22 4 $40 paid weekend of event 4 $5 per spectator, at the door COME WATCH 4$5 to spectate payable at the event, doors open at 1:15 p.m. PRIZE MONEY The winner will receive $500 and his/her favorite nonprofit organization, school, or church will receive $500. SPONSORS CONTACT Justin@JustinRudd.com 2011 PRONOUNCERS 4Kate Karp, 2006 Adult Spelling Bee champ 2011 REGISTRANTS click DICTIONARY Merriam-Webster 11th Edition (note: make sure you understand rules below, especially Rule 29) PRACTICE WORDS BELOW

W-I-N-N-E-R! Congrats to all the great 2011 Nat'l Adult Spelling Bee spellers who competed on April 17. Janice Davis (2nd from left) from Garden Grove, Calif. won $1,000 by correctly spelling "threnody" and "plisse." Second place was Nicholas Kuefler (second from right) from Decatur, Georgia, after misspelling "philippic" in Round 20 of the 2.5-hour bee. Third place was a tie between Thu-Huong Nguyen (far right) of Long Beach, Calif. and Kiri Wagstaff (far left) of Monrovia, Calif.

NEW 2011 Photos

Janice Davis Wins Nat'l Adult Spelling Bee for 2nd Time

THERE WERE MORE than 30 contestants from across the country that competed in the two and half-hour National Adult Spelling Bee on April 17, 2011, at Bay Shore Church in Long Beach, Calif. Spellers traveled from as far as Alabama and Georgia for this sixth-annual Bee that has a $1,000 prize. The prize money comes from the Long Beach Turkey Trot.

ORANGE COUNTY GIRL Janice Davis took home the $1,000 prize at the end of the 21st round, and she is donating half of that to Set Free Christian Ministries in Orange, Calif. She was 2nd Place in last year's Bee and won the contest for the first time in 2008. This year's winning words for Janice were threnody and plisse.

2ND PLACE FROM GEORGIA
The 2nd place speller was Nicholas Kuefler from Decatur, Georgia. He misspelled philippic in round 20. Some of the words he correctly spelled included hausfrau, xerophilous, tintinnabulation and clochard.

THIRD PLACE was a tie between Thu-Huong Nguyen of Long Beach, Calif. and Kiri Wagstaff of Monrovia, Calif. They both got out in Round 13 after incorrectly spelling oriflamme and boustrophedon respectively.

THE 4TH-PLACE TIE included Anne Wright of Long Beach, Calif., (she won the Bee last year) and Thao Nguyen of Cypress, Calif. They got out on clerihew and monadnock, respectively, in Round 11. Fifth place went to Bonnie Lemke of Cypress, Calif. She misspelled homologate in Round 10.

MORE THAN 240 WORDS were used in the Bee. This was the sixth-annual National Adult Spelling Bee and was created and is sponsored by Justin Rudd and his nonprofit 501c3 Community Action Team (CAT). They also host the annual National Elementary School Spelling Bee each March in Long Beach.

SOME CORRECTLY SPELLED words included jacal, supererogatory, abscissa, impuissance, vinaceous and flibbertigibbet.

MISSPELLED WORDS
included pullulate, clade, kine, annulet, cemetery and acrimonious.

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

2010 Press-Telegram story/photos
2010 PHOTO GALLERY

CONGRATULATIONS to the 2009 National Adult Spelling Bee winner: Michael Petrina (left) of Arlington, Virginia. He correctly spelled catachresis and cumshaw in rounds 18 and 19 to win the $1,000 prize. He is donating $500 of his prize money to the Alzheimer's Assoc. This fourth annual Bee had 45 registrants and was hosted and created by Justin Rudd (2nd from left) and his nonprofit 501c3 Community Action Team (CAT).

SECOND PLACE went to Kiri Wagstaff (top photo, 2nd from right) of Monrovia, Calif., after misspelling latkes in the 140-minute bee held at Bay Shore Church in Long Beach, Calif. Third place went to Jessica Ferraro (top photo, far right) of Santa Monica, Calif., and fourth place was Dan Wong (photo at left) of Monterey Park, Calif.

WORDS in the final rounds included: abomasum, Havarti, anthophilous, spavin, petiole, droshky, salmagundi, colcannon, coulomb, abecedarian, satori, portmanteau, deuteragonist, danegeld, triptych, carnassial, misprision, banausic, risorgimento, louche, arriviste, lactiferous, catachresis, latkes, and cumshaw.

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
2012 Spellers
1. Jason Su-Santa Ana
2. Thao Nguyen-Cypress
3. Moustafa Kharouta-Irvine
4.

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.


ENTER TODAY: Some partial entry scholarships available to those who can not afford entry. Contact Justin@JustinRudd.com.

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

2008 PHOTOS
2008 NEWS STORY 1 & 2

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.



SEE THE COMPLETE 293-WORD LIST IN THE RIGHT COLUMN OF THIS PAGE.

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

DICTIONARY
Merriam-Webster 11th Edition

1. Any adult, at least 16 years old, who is a resident or student in the United States, may enter and participate.

2. All words listed in the dictionary may be considered for this contest. There is a practice list of words at www.AdultSpellingBee.com

3. The entry fee is nonrefundable. 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. All words listed in the dictionary may be considered for this contest.

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. Participants may draw numbers to see who starts first (which presents an element of risk as elimination occurs in order). Or, organizers may pre-assign the numbers.

10. The role of the pronouncer 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.

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. During the final rounds of the competition, the judges may choose to allow participants the option of writing the word down on paper before being required to spell it orally.

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 in writing on the official appeal form that will be provided at the competition. The official appeal form will contain space for the following: the word in question, the name of the speller, and the reason for the appeal.

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. When only five or fewer spellers remain, an oral appeal must be made immediately, that is, before the speller affected would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the contest.

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.