2007: Spelling bee

Larry Reisman, Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers (Fla.)

We've been trying to come up with interesting angles on "traditional" subjects -- graduation, Memorial Day, Spelling Bee (we're owned by Scripps and had three students competing).

I've judged local bees and know how daunting those words are, even for well-educated adults. So how could we communicate that challenge, and generate reader interest and interactivity at the same time???I decided to have a quiz (a Rick Horowitz outside-the-box inspiration), using words and their definitions -- it's not every day you get to learn 10 new words -- out of the online word directory at spelling bee.com, and referred readers there for audio pronunciations and other words.

I figured we could use a couple of visuals, but Jim Saturday, our designer, wanted an image for each word. Somehow he found one, and tied them together with passages he made up for each word.?? The piece is a light on opinion, other than to note just how difficult the bee is and how bright these kids are. Still, we've found that changes of pace and other surprises on the opinion page get readers coming back for more.??Interestingly, we did a more hard-hitting, but useful, non-narrative the following day (June 1), for the start of hurricane season.

Spelling Bee Page