The best junior spellers in the country will face off in a national word battle for the third annual Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee, with competition to start this week. 

Students from Years 3-8 can be registered by their teachers to take part in the online national competition, run by News Corp Australia’s free classroom literacy site, kidsnews.com.au. 

More than 80,000 students have taken part over the past two years including a massive 60,000 word wizards in 2022 in the free digital competition. 

Last year’s winners included Haileybury College’s Zachary Cheng, who scored an impressive 28/30 in 1 min, 39 seconds to take out the Years 7-8 age group; Perth Year 5 student Ozi Egesi from Providence Christian College won the Years 5-6 age round with a perfect 30/30 in 1 min, 32 seconds; while fellow West Australian Joanne Lee, of Bull Creek Primary School, was the Years 3-4 category with 29/30 in a lightning fast 1 min,19 seconds. 

The trio were rewarded with a special trip to Canberra to meet Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, along with technology and books for themselves and their schools. 

In 2023, national champions will again head to the nation’s capital to meet the PM and tour Parliament House. They will also receive an iPad, a $250 HarperCollins book pack, as well as a $1000 voucher for their school to buy books, technology and other equipment. 

Kids News editor Diana Jenkins said kidsnews.com.au, which rewrites daily news into appropriate language for Years 3-8 students in an educational and safe online format, was committed to helping set up students for lifelong success. 

“Some of the words in the master list are quite difficult, but learning in a safe digital environment is an easy, fun way to improve English language skills for life,” Ms Jenkins said. 

Kids News, which is linked to the national curriculum, is read in schools in every Australian state and territory with more than 10.6 million page views in the 12 months to December, 2022. 

Registrations open and the 2023 school round goes live at spelling-bee.com.au on Monday, July 24 to Friday, August 18. State and territory finals will be held from August 28 to September 1 and the national finals will be run online on September 6 to 7.

The national winners will be announced on Wednesday, September 15. ABOUT THE BEE 

• There are three competition levels (Green: Years 3-4; Orange: Years 5-6; Red: Years 7-8), with students receiving 30 randomly generated words from their competition level word list. 
• Students have 25 seconds to type each answer. 
• Students with the most correct answers in the fastest time progress to finals. ● Three national winners will score a trip to Canberra to meet the PM. Other great prizes include an iPad and a $250 HarperCollins book pack. 
• Each national winner’s school also gets a $1000 voucher to put towards books, technology or other equipment and supplies. 
• Registrations open and the 2023 school round goes live at spelling-bee.com.au on Monday, July 24 to Friday, August 18. State and territory finals will be held from August 28 to September 1 and the national finals will be run online on September 6 to 7.