A 13 year-old has won the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee and a ticket to Washington DC to represent New Zealand in the Olympics of Spelling, the 83rd Scripps National Spelling Bee in June.

Tom Winter, from Burnside High School in Christchurch, survived a harrowing 90 minutes that saw 11 of his fellow contestants eliminated. Tom was pronounced the winner after spelling dissonant correctly.

"It took 17 grueling rounds to find our winner," said the event's manager, Janet Lucas. "The tension was high but our spellers had nerves of steel and hung in word after word."

The runner up was Celine Kao from Sacred Heart College, Hamilton. Celine tripped over the word, "circuitous". Liam Davis from Liston College in Auckland came third after misspelling the word "recidivist." Twelve finalists from around the country - six girls and six boys traveled to Wellington to compete on Saturday afternoon in the national final after winning a place in one of five regional competitions. Winner Tom said "I wasn't sure how well I'd do. I was really nervous, but now I'm really happy with my win and it's a relief it's over. Tom says he's thrilled about the prospect of representing New Zealand at the US Final. "It's pretty nerve wracking but exciting at the same time."

Tom will spend the next two months studying the Scripps National Spelling Bee word list and reading Webster's Third New International Dictionary, a five kg monster with 470,000 words. Tom will also try to master the differences in American - English spelling. The winner of the 2010 final is this country's sixth representative at the US Spelling Bee, the world's longest running academic competition and held more times than the Academy Awards. In America it attracts more than nine million competitors hopeful of winning a place in the championship final.

Background

Event organiser Janet Lucas says it is a great honour that New Zealand is able to participate in this competition.

"The event is just huge in the States. With so many millions of American kids dying to get the chance to go to the Scripps Spelling Bee, we are lucky to be able to send a kiwi representative."

The winner of the Scripps Spelling Bee receives US$30,000.

The spellers work through a series of rounds, with each speller given one word per round. If they spell it correctly they progress to the next round. An incorrect spelling and a bell is rung, signaling they are out of the competition. The NZ Vegemite Spelling Bee 2010 is open to all Year 9 students under the age of 16 and able to travel to the United States.

Dianne Bardsley, main judge at the event and Lexicographer and Director at the New Zealand Dictionary Centre at Victoria University of Wellington, says the Spelling Bee creates excellent standards for NZ children.

"The Spelling Bees provides significant opportunities for students to not only compete in an area of expertise and focus on 'getting it right', but also to increase their understanding of words, their histories, their meanings, and their uses."

The competition's pronouncer is Hamish McDouall, youngest winner of Sale of the Century and a winner of Mastermind. Hamish has held the position of Pronouncer since the event started in 2005. Karen Wheelahan, sales and marketing manager, says Kraft Foods is delighted to be supporting New Zealand's Spelling Bee with its number one spread, Vegemite. "There is strong synergy between the two brands. Vegemite is loaded with vitamins and minerals, especially Vitamin B, great for vitality and keeping minds bright and attentive," she says. The other supporters are The New Zealand Listener, ZM, Franklin Electronic Publishers, Oxford University Press and the New Zealand Dictionary Centre. The New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee is administered by a charitable trust. Its' purpose is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage.