Spelling Bee of Canada
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- Not to be confused with the CanWest CanSpell National Spelling Bee.
The Spelling Bee of Canada is a charitable, educational organization founded in the Greater Toronto Area in 1987, which aims to create a national Canadian spelling bee. As of 2005, over 30 000 children from across Ontario have participated in the program.
The SBOC organizes annual spelling bees aimed at youth 6-14 years of age. The participants are placed into one of three categories, Primary age 6 to 8, Junior age 9 to 11 & Intermediate age 12-14 to vie for scholarships, trophies and prizes.
With the aid of technology, the Spelling Bee's strategy for growth over the "next 3 years" (as initially posted on the organization's website in late 2004 [1]) is to target all regions within each province to join the program. If regional programs are established in all provinces, this would lead to provincial champions, who would then compete to become national champions. Based on extrapolations from the Scripps National Spelling Bee, SBOC’s long-term forecast is to attract approximately one million participants across Canada.
However, at present, SBOC operates almost exclusively in Ontario, with its Ontario championships as its highest level of competition. Outside Ontario, it has received much less attention than the rival CanSpell National Spelling Bee, which like the Scripps bee benefits from media sponsorship (and hence increased coverage) at the local and national levels. To its credit, the SBOC Ontario finals have been broadcast in full on TVO for several years, whereas the CanSpell national finals were not broadcast live until 2007.
Recent Ontario provincial winners (and de facto national champions) include:
- 2004 Junior:
1st place - Varjitt Jeeva 2nd place - Keerthana Ravigulan 3rd place - Samuel Heersink
- 2004 Senior:
1st place - Dhivian Premakumar 2nd place - Jeffrey Baer 3rd place - Kiruthiha Vimalakanthan
- 2005 Junior:
1st place - Gazal Grewal 2nd place - Charlie Gray 3rd place - Katie Martin
- 2005 Senior
1st place - Jeffrey Baer 2nd place - Kiruthiha Vimalakanthan 3rd place - David Sheps
- 2006 Junior:
1st place - Katie Martin 2nd place - Jill O'Craven 3rd place - Kim Tran Nguyen
- 2006 Senior:
1st place - Leslie Newcombe 2nd place - Angus Benderavage 3rd place - Sarah Bowers
- 2007 Primary:
1st place - David Chan 2nd place - Laura Newcombe 3rd place - Veronica Penny
- 2007 Junior: 1st place - Katie Martin
2nd place - Zuhaer Anzum Zim 3rd place - Maleika Jeewanjee
- 2007 Intermediate: 1st place - Umayangga Yogalingam
2nd place - Donald Bowins 3rd place - Merany Ganesan
