Event Details

The International Spelling Team Olympiad is a team-based competition with a variety of events across a range of age groups. Teams compete across several types of games, accruing points by placing in team and individual events in order to win an overall team victory.

Olympiad Events

The International Spelling Team Olympiad is a team-based competition with a variety of events across a range of age groups. Teams compete across several types of games, accruing points by placing in team and individual events in order to win an overall team victory.

Speed Spell

  1. The order of participating teams will be determined by coin flip.
  2. Each team will have one player to compete in this game.
  3. Spellers will be given a set of 40-60 words and they must spell as many words as they can within 2mins.
  4. Words will be in a certain category like plants, animals, occupation, suffix, prefix etc. The pronouncer will announce the category before the speller starts to spell the first word.
  5. The timer will start when the pronouncer says the first word
  6. The speller must repronounce the given word after spelling it, so the pronouncer can read the next word.
  7. Spellers can say “PASS” if they don’t know how to spell the given word or if they are not sure about the spelling of the word, so that the pronouncer can proceed to the next word. Spellers can also say “PARDON” to hear the pronunciation of the given word again.
  8. )If the speller misspells a word, the judge shall hit the bell and the pronouncer will read the next word. Once the judge hears an incorrectly spelled letter, the judge has the right to hit the bell and shall not wait till the speller finishing spelling the whole word.
  9. After each speller finishing spelling the given set of words, judge will announce the number of words the speller correctly spelled. The player who spells more words correctly wins and earns 1 point for his/her team.
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Show and Spell (1 Minutes Per Word)

  1. Projection screen and buzzers are used in this game. Each speller will get on stage to test the buzzers before the start of game.
  2. A word will be given for players to spell within 1 minute. The word will be presented with progressive clues. The first clue is the first letter of the given word. The timer starts as soon as the first letter of the given word is shown on screen. Once the first letter of the given word is shown on screen, any speller can hit his/her buzzer and give the answer. Speller must remember to hit his/her buzzer before giving the answer.
  3. The pronouncer will give two additional clues to help spellers:
    The second clue: Say and show on screen the second letter and the part of speech of the word. If no speller hits the buzzer, the pronouncer will continue to give the third clue.
    The third clue: Read the definition of the word.
  4. At this point spellers are expected to hit the buzzer, say out loud and spell the answer. If a speller hits the buzzer but doesn’t say anything within 3 seconds, he/she loses a turn and his/her opponent has the chance to answer and spell the given word. If the other speller gives a wrong answer, then both spellers has the chance to hit the buzzer again and say the answer. The speller gets the correct answer earns 1 point. If no speller answers correctly within 1 minute, no one gets point and the pronouncer proceeds to the next word.
  5. There are seven words to be spelled. The player who spells more words correctly wins this game and earns 1 game point for his/her team.

Laser Letters (1 Minutes Per Set of Words)

  1. Projection screen and buzzers are used in this game. Each player will get on stage to test the buzzers before the start of game. Speller should hit the buzzers before giving answers.
  2. Spellers will be given 5 sets of words consisting of 4 words in each set. Spellers need to choose which word is spelled wrongly in the given set and then give the correct spelling.
  3. The time limit is one minute for each set. Timer starts when the first set is shown on screen.
  4. Spellers can start to hit the buzzer once they see the given word on the screen. If a speller misspells the word or does not choose correctly, then he/she loses a turn. If a speller hits the buzzer but doesn’t say anything within 3 seconds, he/she loses a turn and his/her opponent has the chance to answer and spell the given word. If opponent gives a wrong answer, then both spellers have chance to hit the buzzer again and say the answer. But this should be done with one minute
  5. The speller who gets the correct answer earns 1 point. If no one answers correctly with one minute, no one gets point and the pronouncer proceeds to the next set. There are 5 sets in total. The player who spells more words correctly win this game and earns 1 game point for his/her team
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Super Words (2 Minutes Total)

  1. Projection screen and buzzers are used in this game. Each player will get on stage to test the buzzers before the start of game. Speller should hit the buzzers before giving answers.
  2. The pronouncer will show a word puzzle with a 3x3 grid of letters. The middle letter is emphasized in red color, this middle letter is a vowel and must use in creating an English word. During the period of 2 minutes, the spellers should find as many words as possible, using the provided letters and no letter shall be repeatedly used. The speller who finds more words wins the game. Every word must be at least three letters long and no proper names of people (Ben, Anne, Dan) shall be accepted.
  3. A speller can hit the buzzer several times and give answers if he/she finds words from the grid.
  4. If a speller hits the buzzer but does not say anything within 3 seconds, that will be considered as a miss and then both spellers can hit the buzzer again.
  5. During the period of 2 minutes the judges and recorders takes notes of the word each speller says. The final decision will be given afterwards. If there is a wrong spelling by the speller, that will be announced by the judges after 2 minutes. In case each speller says the same word, the point will be given to the first speller who says the word. If speller 1 says a noun and then speller 2 gives the plural form of that noun, it will not be counted (e.g. speller 1: ant; speller 2: ants). But if the given noun has an irregular plural form like tooth-teeth, then it will be counted as correct. Same thing applies for verbs, if speller 1 says look and speller 2 says looked, it will not be counted. But if speller 1 says eat and speller 2 says ate, it will be counted.
  6. Scoring guide: 2 points for a correct 3-letter word, 4 points for a correct 4-letter word, 6 points for a correct 5-letter word, 8 points for a correct 6-letter word, 10 points for a correct 7-letter word, 12 points for a correct 8-letter word. A player will automatically win the game for a correct 9-letter word. If no player spells a 9-letter word, then the player who got the higher score will win the game.
  7. The timer starts once the spellers see the grid on the screen.

Letter by Letter (1 Minute Per Word)

  1. Spellers will be given 5 words to spell. Each word must be spelled within 1 minute.
  2. The timer starts when the pronouncer reads the definition and repeats the pronunciation of the given word. Spellers will take turns in spelling the given word. For example, the word is BANANA, speller 1 says B, speller 2 say A and then take turns in saying the letters that completes the spelling of the given word. In case that one of the spellers says an incorrect letter or was not able to say a letter within 5 seconds, he/she loses a turn while the other speller will have a chance to spell the given word and can ask to pardon for the pronunciation of the word once. If the said speller gives the correct spelling then he/she earns a point, otherwise neither speller earn a point and the pronouncer will proceed to the next word. The player gets more points wins this game and earns a game point for his/her team. If both players spell all given words correctly, they will be declared tie and each team earns 1 game point.
  3. For Elementary School group, only 1st or 2nd grade students should play this game
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Origin Challenge

  1. In this game, each speller will be given a set of 10 words. Words in this round will be coming from different language origins. The pronouncer will announce the origin of words that will be spelled. For elementary school group, the ten origins are as follows: Old English, Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, German, Dutch, and other Asian origin. For middle school group and high school group, there are fourteen origin.
  2. Each speller has 30 seconds to spell each word and he/she can ask for the definition, part of speech, sentence and repetition of the word. The timer starts after the pronouncer says the word twice. The speller has to say the correct spelling of the word aloud and is encouraged to repronounce the word after spelling it. Once a letter is said out loud, it cannot be changed. When a wrong spelling is given, the judge will hit the buzzer and give the correct spelling, then the pronouncer will read the next word. The player who spells more words correctly wins and earns a game point for his/her team. If both spellers have same number of words spelled correctly, they will be considered tie and both teams earn 1 game point.

Guess and Spell

  1. Projection screen and buzzers are used in this game. Each player will get on stage to test the buzzers before the start of game.
  2. Players will be given a set of 3 words with partial information and clues. The clues are: first letter, last letter, total number of letters and part of speech of the given word.
  3. Each word should be spelled within 2 minutes. Timer will start as soon as the clues are given and shown on the screen.
  4. Spellers can ask the pronouncer questions answerable by YES or NO, to help with guessing the correct answer. Spellers must remember to hit his/her buzzer before asking question or giving answer. Upon hitting the buzzer, the speller who hits it has 3 seconds to give answer or ask a question. In case Speller A asks a question that leads directly to the correct answer, the pronouncer shall answer yes and let the speller to spell the word immediately . For example: Speller asks: “Is it gorilla?” If the pronouncer and judge know that the correct answer is gorilla, then the pronouncer shall reply: “Yes, spell it now.”
  5. If speller A spells it right, he/she gets 1 point. But if speller A misspelled the answer, then speller B will have a chance to guess and spell the given word within 20 seconds. At this point, speller A will be called a frozen speller and not be allowed to hit the buzzer for 20 seconds. A frozen speller shall wait 20 seconds before he/she can hit the buzzer again. The time keeper shall announce when the frozen speller is allowed hit the buzzer again.
  6. Once speller A is called frozen, speller B is free to continuously hit the buzzer to ask questions. If speller B gives the correct answer and spelling of the word, then he/she earns a point for his/her team. If speller B does not guess and spell the given word correctly within 20 seconds, speller A will have a chance to hit the buzzer again. At this point both speller A and B can hit their buzzers.
  7. If speller B gives an incorrect answer or misspells the given word, he/she will be called frozen too. After the 20 seconds frozen rule on speller A is over, speller A can hit the buzzer to ask questions or guess and spell the word. If speller A answers and spells correctly, he/she gets the point. If not, the same process will be applied as stated in A.
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Picture Dictionary (Primary School)

    The pronouncer gives the test questions and the spellers can answer any time. The big screen displays a theme background picture, which contains multiple attribute words. After grabbing the chance to answer the question, say the words and spell correctly. There will be no points for the wrong spelling if the spellers find the correct words. After grabbing the chance to answer the question, if the competitor does not answer loudly within 3 seconds, the answer is considered wrong. If the speller wants to answer the question again, he/she need to re-hit the buzzer to grab the chance to answer the question. The player who has higher score in 2 minutes will be the winner. The result will be announced after the match.

Word Link

    The pronouncer gives a 5x5 grid and the players can answer any time after the timer starts. The big screen displays a 5x5 grid with a letter in each grid. Players need to use three or more letters to make up a word (letters can be repeated) and can use letters up and down to form a word. After grabbing the chance to answer the question, if the competitor does not answer loudly within 3 seconds, the answer is considered wrong. If he/she wants to answer the question again, he/she need to re-hit the buzzer to grab the chance to answer the question. The players who have higher score in 2 minutes will be the winner. Answers will be announced after the competition. Repeated word spelling will be count by time order. Special variations of the words will be accepted and no names will be accepted.
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Mystery Sentence

  1. Primary School
    Spellers can answer any time after the pronouncer given the questions. Several words will be show on the screen. Spellers need to use lines connect all the given words to a correct and reasonable sentence without any grammatical errors and read the sentence loudly. It will be count fail if the speller did not answer within 3 seconds after he/she grab the chance to answer. The chance will go to opponent team, and opponent team will win if the opponent team answers correctly. If the opponent team answer wrong, then both teams will have chance to answer the question. There will be total of 7 set of words. The team who get higher score will be the winner.
  2. Middle/High School
    Spellers can answer any time after the pronouncer given the questions. There will be 4-6 numbered sentences show on the screen. Spellers need to use all of the sentences to compose a passage or a poem according to the meaning of the sentences and read it loudly. It will be count fail if the speller did not answer within 3 seconds after he/she grab the chance to answer. The chance will go to opponent team, and opponent team will win if the opponent team answers correctly. If the opponent team answer wrong, then both teams will have chance to answer the question. There will be total of 5 set of words. The team who get higher score will be the winner.