ISLAMABAD: Around 1,800 students from over 180 schools participated in the four-day Dawn Spelling Bee which concluded on Friday.

The event, which is an annual feature of the Dawn Media Group, was aimed at helping students improve their spellings, increase their vocabulary, confidence and learn new concepts. It was held in the International Islamic University’s auditorium.

During the four-day competition, contests were held in various age groups.

Ibrahim Ali Khan from Froebel’s International School F-7 branch was declared the champion in the 15-17 age group. Yousaf Bin Mohammad Chaudhry from Bahria College Islamabad was the first runner up while Eeman Fatima from Roots School System DHA-I was the second runner up.

The final contest in the age group 12-14 was won by Istaara Amjad of Khaldunia High School Islamabad, Sadia Alima Qazi from the same school was the first runner up while Mishal Zafar from Roots Garden School, 3 Harley Rawalpindi was the second runner up.

In the age group 9-11, Syed Saad Kamaal of Roots International School Gandhara Campus Wah was declared champion, Mustafa Shehryar of Khaldunia High School Islamabad was first runner up and Ayesha Ahmed of Supernova School Islamabad was second runner up.

The participants were given 40 seconds to spell a word specified by a pronouncer. They could ask for the word to be repeated or for its definition during the first 20 seconds.

The final competitions were judged by Tooba Malik, Maliha Javed Khan, Samina Javed, Nuzhat Yasmin, Afshan Ashraf, Alishia Saroia, Ambreen Kashif, Hajra Haroon, Ghalia Nazar Bhatti, Rabia Arshad, Farah Najeeb, Amina Muzaffar and Afshan Ashraf, with David Purrington as pronouncer.

The first spelling bee was held in 2005 as part of the Dawn in Education Program.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2018