Cape Town - Two Western Cape learners won big at the annual South African Spelling Bee Finals, and will be representing Team South Africa in Nigeria next month.
At the 15th Annual South African Spelling Bee Finals, Ifeoma Osondo, 14, from Milnerton High School secured third place in the Junior Category, and Rhyle Adams, 14, a learner from Klein Nederburg Secondary School in Paarl won the Senior Champion Title.
The finals took place at Sun City on November 1.
The two will now form part of Team South Africa, a group of six of the country’s top spellers to represent the country from December 18-22.
Osondo said: “My win at the South African Spelling Bee this year was very tough … My interest in taking part in Spelling Bees started when I had first watched the movie ‘Akeelah and the Bee’, although at the time I was too young to compete … Towards the end of my final year in primary school and the beginning of the provincial qualification competition, my teacher had told me that she found a Spelling Bee for me and I was overjoyed, and ever since then I have been experiencing a wonderful journey with the African Spelling Bee.”
Adams said: “I feel very proud and very excited seeing that it’s been a long journey in this competition and seeing that I was very nervous at the beginning. It was also my first time competing in the senior category.”
Adams entered the competition for the first time last year and won in the provincial competition and secured fourth place at the nationals competition.
“I really like to read and seeing this one movie, Akeelah and the Bee, it ignited my passion for words and my passion for reading and because of this, I did research on particular Spelling Bees and I came across the South African Spelling Bee which I entered and it was a great opportunity and a great learning environment.”
The South African Spelling Bee is a flagship programme of A Better Africa Foundation.
“We congratulate Rhyle and Ifeoma on their outstanding achievements,” said foundation CEO Roger Dickinson.
“Their dedication to language mastery inspires us to continue promoting literacy and skills development in Africa.”
Dickinson said competitions take place across the country starting in April and May, to select the participants for the SA Spelling Bee Finals. The Top Spellers are then invited to the SA Spelling Bee Finals which take place annually at Sun City.
Participants also stand a chance to win prizes such as smart phones, trophies and medals.
“Most of all, however, the Spelling Bee gives participants the opportunity to meet new people, see new places and have new, exciting experiences,” he said.
“The SA Spelling Bee has been running since 2010, and apart from the disruption in 2020 and 2021, has been growing in leaps and bounds with tens of thousands of spellers participating each year.”
Registration for 2025 will open at the end of November.
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za
Cape Argus