Twenty-one bright minds compete for the crown of Canada’s best speller
Sunday, April 1 at 7 p.m. (7:30 NT)
They’ve worked hard to get here, and they are about to battle against the best of their peers at the biggest competition of the year. This is not the NHL Playoffs, this is Postmedia Canspell 2012: Spelling Night in Canada - a one-hour prime-time event that will celebrate excellence in our young people and keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Spelling Night in Canada airs Sunday, April 1 at 7 p.m. (7:30 NT) on CBC Television.
Open to students from Grade 4 to Grade 8, the 8th annual Postmedia Canspell competition began when a quarter of a million young Canadians took part in school spelling bees in January. From there, 21 finalists from schools across the country are squaring off for Spelling Night in Canada.
CBC Radio host Brent Bambury (Day 6) will join returning host and hockey broadcasting veteran Jim Hughson of CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA along with colour commentary from renowned expert Paul Loeffler (Scripps National Spelling Bee). Spelling Night in Canada takes the spelling bee format to the next level - with a fast-paced game-show style, celebrity hosts and commentators. CBC Books is partnering with Canspell 2012 to provide editorial content for the competitors.
New to this year’s broadcast, the audience will have the chance to play along to find out if they can spell better than an eighth grader. To engage live, viewers can log into their Twitter accounts, listen to the words on television and reply to @SpellingNight with the correct spelling of the word. The person who spells the most words correctly during the course of the broadcast will win a prize. Players will also be able to see how many words they spelled correctly, and how they measure up against the rest of Canada.
Similarly on Facebook, leading up to the Spelling Night in Canada broadcast, over a thousand of the real wordsthat are used in the competition will be released.Users are encouraged to play the Facebook Spelling Game to find out how many words they are able to spell correctly, while challenging friends to compete. Each round will generate a new set of 10 words, so competitors can keep learning and improving as they play. http://www.facebook.com/spellingnight
The winning super-speller will receive a $7,500 education award, courtesy of Egg Farmers of Canada. The second and third place spellers will receive $5,000 and $2,500 respectively, also courtesy EFC. All three top spellers will go to represent Canada and their hometowns internationally at the renowned Scripps Bee in Washington, D.C. in June.
The 8th annual Postmedia Canspell National Spelling Bee Final takes place on Wednesday, March 28 at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in downtown Toronto where it will be taped in front of a live studio audience. Canadians can witness the edge-of-your-seat competition by tuning into Spelling Night in Canadaon April 1 at 7 p.m. (7:30 NT).
Spelling Night in Canada Contestant Information:
Kaleigh Beer, Grade 7, age 12 | Olivier Broussard, Grade 6, age 12 |
Matthew MacDonald, Grade 8, age 14 | Jackson Hunter, Grade 7, age 12 |
Kyle Jordan, Grade 8, age 14 | Graham Abraham, Grade 8, age 13 |
Amy Janzen, Grade 7, age 12 | Matitya Loran, Grade 8, age 13 |
Sara Ferros, Grade 7, age 12 | Veronica Penny, Grade 8, age 14 |
Chi Yan Lee, Grade 7, age 13 | Logan O’Neill, Grade 7, age 12 |
Alyssa Friesen, Grade 8 age 13 | Ishwar Desai, Grade 6, age 11 |
Jacklyn Spithoff Grade 7, age 13 | Jennifer Mong, Grade 8, age 12 |
Samara St. Louis, Grade 8 age 13 | David Underhill, Grade 8, age 13 |
Mignon Tsai, Grade 7, age 12 | Zhongtian Wang, Grade 6, age 11 |
Eric Lin, Grade 8, age 13 |
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Spelling Night in Canada is available:
Online: http://www.cbc.ca/spelling/
On Twitter: @SpellingNight #spellingnight
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/spellingnight
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, Internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages, plus seven languages for international audiences. In 2011, CBC/Radio-Canada celebrated 75 years of serving Canadians and being at the centre of the democratic, social and cultural life of Canada.
For further information:
Erin Richards
richards@veritascanada.com
416 955 4592 (office)
416 627 5728 (cell)
