About 40 people watched 13 secondary school pupils compete in the lower South Island semifinal of the New Zealand Spelling Bee at Otago Museum.
If any of the year 9 and 10 pupils spelt a word wrong, they were eliminated.
The final two remaining pupils won a place in the national final in Wellington in October.
Year 9 Kavanagh College pupil Mitchell Stewart and year 10 Wakatipu High School pupil Om Alva won the chance to be crowned New Zealand Spelling Bee Champion 2017.
The words Mitchell (13) correctly spelt in the 10-round competition yesterday were quest, exaggerate, dictator, tribute, appetite, utensil, souvenir, myriad, tremulous and dubious.
The words Om (14) spelt were anticipate, parody, innocent, stigma, legitimate, gaunt, antagonist, buoyant, sentient and demise.
New Zealand Spelling Bee organiser Janet Lucas, of Wellington, said the level of spelling in Dunedin yesterday was ''amazing''.
''I was so impressed.''
