Spelling Bee moves out of capital

The five winners of Mirzapur Cadet College who made it through to the second round of The Daily Star Spelling Bee Powered by Horlicks yesterday. In front of them are three teachers of the college.Photo: STAR

The search for the first spelling champion in the country has taken another dimension with The Daily Star Spelling Bee contest reaching outside the capital.
In the last two days, the organisers of the contest visited Mirzapur Cadet College and Feni Girls Cadet College to pick up their best spellers for the divisional round, which begins on March 16.
Champs21.com, which provides education material online, is organising the contest for the first time in the country.
At least 500 spellers from Dhaka, qualifying through school contest and champs21's online contest, will take part in the divisional round (second round).
The top 72 spellers from this round will be moving on to the TV Round and will be getting an opportunity to become a reality TV star. From amongst them, the top three spellers will get Tk 5,00,000 (first prize), Tk 1,00,000 (second prize) and Tk 50,000 (third prize).
Moreover, the champion will get an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington DC along with a parent and a teacher to participate in the American Spelling Bee competition.
Over the last two days, three schools -- one in and two outside Dhaka -- have held the competition.
Of them, the International Turkish Hope School in the capital held it on Tuesday.
From the school's boys' section, Arfaa Islam of class eight, Mostafizur Rahman of class six and Ragib Mostafa of class nine overcame the first round barrier. Tanzila Mostafa Momo of class eight and Nanziba Ibnat and Jenny Liu of class nine from its girls' section made it through to the second round.
From Mirzapur Cadet College in Tangail, Fatin Ishraq Faruqui and Khandaker Shadman Sakib of class eight, Sadman Showhardo of class 10 and Mubtaseem Zaman and Ahnaf Asif Khan of class nine got through to the next round on Tuesday.
Feni Girls Cadet College held the competition yesterday with Fouzia Afrin Faiza and Nasrin Sultana Keya of class eight, Faaria Tabassum and Rezwana Mahfuza of class nine and Kaniz Fatema Bristy and Fatema Raisa of class 10 qualifying for the second round.