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The History Bee-hind the Spelling Bee
IN THE PAST 
Tags: Spelling, bee, Scripps Howard, national, words, kids, students, ESPN
The Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee has a rich history. Here are some interesting facts:
| | First Bee - The earliest evidence of the phrase spelling bee in print dates back to 1825, although the contests had apparently been held before that year. |
| | Why "Bee"? - The etymology of the word "bee" in this sense is unclear. Historically, it has described a social congregation where a specific action is being carried out, like a husking bee, or an apple bee. |
| | Bee Books - A key impetus for the contests was Noah Webster's spelling books. First published in 1786 and known colloquially as "The Blue-backed Speller", Webster's spelling books were an essential part of the curriculum of all elementary school children in the United States for five generations. |
| | Bee-fore - The United States National Spelling Bee was started in 1925 by The Courier-Journal, the newspaper of Louisville, Kentucky. |
| | The Scripps Bee - In 1941, the Scripps Howard News Service acquired sponsorship of the program, and the name changed to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee (later simply "Scripps National Spelling Bee"). |
| | New Bee-land - As well as covering the 50 U.S. states, several competitors also come from Canada, the Bahamas, New Zealand, and Europe. |
| | Bee Rich - In the United States, spelling bees are annually held from local levels up to the level of the Scripps National Spelling Bee which awards a cash prize to the winner. |
| | Bee-SPN - The National Spelling Bee is sponsored by English-language newspapers and educational foundations; it is also broadcast on ESPN. |
| | ABeeC - In 2006, the National Spelling Bee's championship rounds were broadcast on ABC live. |
| | Bee-Worldly - In 2005, contestants came from the Bahamas, Jamaica, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Canada, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and a German military base, as well as the United States. This was the first year that spellers from Canada and New Zealand attended the competition. |
| | To Bee or not to Bee - Some critics believe that the winning word for each year is too easy compared to the other words in the high rounds of the nationals. However, different bee experts have noticed that the championship word needs a "beeable" definition. In common terms, this means that the final word, such as Ursprache or autochthonous, requires a definition that the general public can identify |
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