Young wordworms yesterday proved Central has some impressive spellers.
Hundreds of children from throughout the wider Central Otago area packed into the Cromwell College auditorium yesterday for the Otago Daily Times Extra! spelling quiz.
The children sat through 10 rounds, after each of which team members would zip to the front and quickly hand in answers.
A team from Cromwell's Goldfields Primary School had a near-perfect 99 out of 100 to top the 43 teams from 13 schools in the years 5 and 6 section.
It consisted of Grace White, Samantha Varcoe and Zoe Laws.
Grace said they practised for nearly two weeks to get their spelling up to scratch.
''Mrs [Barbara] Simmers kind of coached us. She sometimes even took us out of class so we could practise.''
Samantha said it was good to beat their town rival Cromwell Primary School, which won the competition last year.
They did not know which word they spelled incorrectly.
The Arrowtown Primary team of Dominic Smith, Anna Hutchens and Sophie May bested 45 teams from 14 schools with a score of 97 out of 100 in the years 7 and 8 section.
Sophie said their win was unexpected.
Anna said she did not really practise, but ''read a lot of books''.
Extra! editor Ivan Behrnes said the children improved every year.
''It's a critical skill. You have to have an understanding of words. You see the thrill on their faces as they master the language.''
Extra! is a newspaper magazine targeted at children aged 5 to 13 and published 11 times a year by the Otago Daily Times.
The spelling will continue tonight with the years 9 and 10 competition.
