Ashburton College champions for a spell

Ashburton College claimed spelling success last night, after its pupils placed first and third in the Otago Daily Times Extra! Central South Island years 9 and 10 spelling quiz.

The annual inter-school event was held at Timaru Boys' High School and attracted teams of high school pupils from across the central South Island, including Timaru, Oamaru, Ashburton and Geraldine.

Ashburton College pupils Conner Stewart, Marc Calzada and Hamish Lyth came first out of 15 teams, answering a total of 95 out of 100 questions correctly.

Geraldine High School pupils Maia Mahuika, Saskia Finlayson-Hood and Christine Bendsen gained second place, scoring a total of 93 points.

Another Ashburton College trio - comprising Lauren Jensen, Molly McKenna and Laura Winchester (all 13) - were third in the event, with 88 points.

The years 9 and 10 quiz was the third event in the spelling quiz series, following Wednesday evening's years 5 and 6 and years 7 and 8 events.

The spelling quizzes test students' abilities to spell words, as well as getting them to guess words from their descriptions.

There are also questions that offer a points ranking scheme based on how fast a team can guess a word from a limited collection of clues.

Many of the competitors at yesterday evening's event were return entrants from last year's series of quizzes, though often in different age grades, and some representing different schools.

The young quiz masters will also have the chance to demonstrate their news knowledge when the Otago Daily Times Extra! general knowledge quizzes are held later in the year.

The Otago Daily Times Extra! is a monthly educational publication produced by the newspaper for senior primary, intermediate and junior secondary school pupils.