A three-way tiebreaker tussle added tension to the Central Otago final of the Otago Daily Times Extra! spelling quiz last night.
Cromwell College 3, Mt Aspiring College 3 and Wakatipu High School 3 were all tied on 85 points in second place in the year 9 and 10 final, but two words - asphalt, followed by effervesce - determined the placegetters.
The Mt Aspiring team was second and Cromwell was third. Another Wakatipu team, made up of Jessica Dicker and Rosa Ellis-Cook
won the event, with 89 points out of 100. The girls said they struggled in the round which involved matching words with their country of origin but managed to guess both mystery words in another round on the first clue, for maximum points.
Twenty-three teams from four different schools - Wakatipu, Mt Aspiring, Cromwell and Roxburgh Area School - took part in the event, which was staged at Cromwell.
Cromwell College head of English, James Edgecombe said the quiz format ''worked well without being too dry '' for the participants.
''And it's really good for the students to be able to take their skills outside the classroom and enjoy them,'' he said.
Quiz co-ordinator and Extra! editor Ivan Behrnes said the next round of spelling quizzes would be held in Timaru next week. The event was also held in Dunedin and Christchurch. A total of more than 1300 pupils have taken part.
The Otago Daily Times Extra! spelling quizzes are part of the newspaper's Class Act project, which celebrates the excellence of young people.
Extra! is a monthly educational publication produced by the newspaper for senior primary, intermediate and junior secondary school pupils.
