Top spellers prove they have what it takes to Bee champions

They came, they spelled, they conquered. The Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee national champions smashed out words many adults would struggle to know the meaning of, let alone spell.

They came, they spelled, they conquered.

The national champions of the 2022 Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee have been crowned after smashing out words many adults would struggle to know the meaning of, let alone spell.

Zachary Cheng took the honours in the Years 7-8 group, ticking off words including astrakhan and psephology to score 28/30 in a speedy 1min39s. For the record, astrakhan is the black or grey curly fur from the skins of lambs, and psephology is the study of how people vote in elections.

The Year 7 student from Haileybury College in Victoria said he was surprised by his victory after having to navigate a couple of curveballs in the national final.

Zachary Cheng, 13, is the national winner of the Prime Minister's Spelling Bee in the Years 7-8 age group. He'll be going to Canberra to meet the Prime Minister as part of his prize. Picture: Mark Stewart

“I guessed one or two of the words and didn’t expect to get them correct,” Zachary, 13, admitted. “But they were educated guesses because I read a lot. I read almost every day for an hour at least, and that helps with my vocabulary.”

Perth student Ozi Egesi scored a perfect 30/30 in 1min32s in the Years 5-6 group, despite tricky words like baize (a green woollen material resembling felt).

Ozi, 11, who is in Grade 5 at Providence Christian College, said his lifelong love of spelling and reading prepared him for the Bee.

Ozi Egesi, 11, is the national winner of the Years 5-6 group of the Prime Minister's Spelling Bee.

“I learnt to spell from a young age. My mum would read with me for long hours in the study, and she’d be giving me spelling words to practise. I wasn’t even at school yet,” he said.

Fellow Western Australian Joanne Lee, 10, finished on top of the Years 3-4 category, scoring 29/30 in 1min19s.

The Grade 4 student from Bull Creek Primary School said she loved competing in the Spelling Bee for the first time, despite some nerves, and went in well prepared.

Joanne Lee (front left) won the 2022 Prime Minister's Spelling Bee in the Years 3-4 group. She is with classmates from Bull Creek Primary School in WA.

“I read a lot of books and my mum helped me to practise at home. She asked me words and I’d write them down whenever we had time,” she said.

The national competition, which attracted a record field of 61,224 students, also produced two runners-up in each age group: two from South Australia, and one each from NSW, Queensland, WA and Victoria.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese congratulated the winners and runners-up.

“You’ve been up against some very tough competition, not to mention some of the curlier words the English language has to offer – and you’ve come through with flying colours,” Mr Albanese said.

“What you’ve done is no small feat, so you can take great pride in your achievement. Spelling is one of the great keys that can open up the world, and you’ve shown that you can handle that key with aplomb.

“Take a bow. You’ve well and truly earned this.”

It is the second year News Corp Australia’s free classroom news website, Kids News, has run the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee.

News Corp’s community ambassador Penny Fowler said the competition aimed to encourage a love of learning and boost childhood literacy.

“Congratulations to all the children who competed in this year’s Spelling Bee,” she said. “We hope you enjoyed the competition and discovered how much fun learning and rising to new challenges can be.”

The national champs will head off to Canberra to meet the Prime Minister later this year. They also score an iPad and HarperCollins book pack, plus a $1000 voucher for their school.

SPELL CHECK

The words the champs were asked to spell in the national final:

Joanne:

stitch, change, plunge, further, thatch, dripping, antics, officer, horrid, stoppage, thoughtless, blistering, quokka, heroic, dogmatic, belfry, agreeable, wallaroo, attendant, audience, aria, fauna, depot, vespers*, tricycle, edict, consign, agate, writ, coda.

Ozi:

abrasive, objective, handsome, employment, unnatural, satisfying, reappear, lethargy, thesaurus, stylistic, gradient, marvellous, amenable, occasion, excerpt, mediocre, confectionery, concession, charlatan, practicable, reduction, levity, acreage, immediate, rampart, baize, gnarled, adenoids, halogen, despoil.

Zachary:

velour, convivial, linguistics, pulverise*, iconoclast, vacillate, ricochet, precocious, empiricism,

astrakhan, archipelago, philistine, bourgeois, prerogative, esoteric, mesolithic, chameleon, nonagenarian, schizophrenia, psephology, pageantry, rhyme, broccoli, disseminate, aardwolf, equerry*, bourgeois, bureaucracy, manoeuvre, prerequisite.

*answered incorrectly