There was no need to spell out how difficult it was to retain the year 9 and 10 Otago Daily Times Extra! Otago regional spelling quiz title last night.
Columba College 1 won the competition with 97 points out of 100, and their friends in the six other teams from Columba College competing against them, knew exactly how hard it was to win.
Georgia Wong, Megan Macdiarmid and Olivia Charles said it was stressful at times, particularly because they were trying hard to defend the title they won last year.
When their win was announced, there were squeals of excitement.
Olivia said the main secret to their success was teamwork.
"We’ve been competing together for three or four years now, so we’re getting used to it now.
"We’ve been reading lots of books and we know each other really well — we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses."
The hardest word was "genealogist", she said.
"We used an entire piece of paper, just writing it out different ways, trying to work out how to spell it.
"I think we got that one wrong in the end."
They were among 41 teams battling it out in the year 9 and 10 competition at Otago Girls’ High School last night.
The teams of three were tested on spelling, word origins, abbreviations and dictionary research ability.
The runners-up, with 96 points, were St Hilda’s Collegiate School (3) pupils Brianna Le, Lauren Heng and Emily Wilson.
Otago Boys’ High School (1) pupils Brayden Foote, Ciaran McBurney and Luke Geddes were third with 94 points.
● The Otago Daily Times Extra! spelling quizzes are part of the newspaper’s Class Act project, which celebrates the excellence of young people. Extra! is a monthly educational publication produced by the newspaper for senior primary, intermediate and junior secondary school pupils.
