Young wordsmiths from around Central Otago and the Lakes District were in Cromwell last night for the annual Otago Daily Times Extra! spelling quiz, and judging by the scores, the year 9 and year 10 pupils certainly knew their stuff.
The winning team, with 91 points out of a possible 100, was Wakatipu 3, made up of Catrona Anderson and Ali Macharg, both aged 14, and Bradley Boyd (15).
Dominic Schwarz (14), Rohan Brash (13) and Kape Sinnott (14) from Mt Aspiring 10 and Charlotte Penniket (14), Mathew Green (14) and Rebecca Clark (14) from Mt Aspiring 5 came second equal with 86 points.
Pupils from Mt Aspiring College, at Wanaka, Wakatipu High School, Queenstown, and Cromwell College, Cromwell, flew through the often tricky 100 spelling-related questions, with just one medical word catching everyone out.
The questions are based on information that has appeared in the Extra! newspaper for schools.
This is the fifth year the quiz has been held and Extra! editor Ivan Behrne said some pupils had been selected by their schools to compete for each of the past five years, and really knew how the whole competition worked.
The popularity of the spelling quiz is growing, with Mr Behrnes saying he will be running the quiz for Canterbury schools in Christchurch this year.
He said it was unfortunate there had to be a change of plans for the spelling quiz and some schools were not able to be represented last night.
Roxburgh Area School and Dunstan High School were not able to be there, so numbers were down on last year.
The second round will be held at Cromwell tonight for years 5, 6, 7 and 8, and a full school representation is expected.
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.
