It was about words.
Fifty-six teams took part in the year 5 and 6 division, with Waihi School 1 emerging the winner after 10 rounds and Allanton School 1 and Gleniti School 2 second equal.
Sixty-eight teams competed in the year 7 and 8 division, with Ashburton Intermediate 1 winning after 10 rounds, Opihi College 1 coming second and Timaru South 1 and Mt Hutt College 1 third equalIn the year 5 and 6 competition, Waihi and Allanton were neck-and-neck but Waihi finished with 96 out of 100 points, edging out Allanton and Gleniti by a solitary point.
Ashburton Intermediate was in the lead for nine out of 10 rounds and finished ahead of Opihi by one point.
All teams did well in the quiz, with some coming from as far as Rakaia, Methven and Oamaru to compete.
The rounds involved spelling, word usage, spotting mistakes in a newspaper story, writing out meanings of abbreviations, using a dictionary, root words and word endings, working out mystery words using five clues, and matching words with their countries of origin.
The quiz has been running for five years, and editor of Extra! and organiser Ivan Behrnes said the standard had increased every year.
"It's just getting better and better. It's hard finding new questions to keep challenging them."
Thirty-nine teams will take part in the year 9 and 10 division, which will be held today from 4.30pm to 6pm at Timaru Boys High School.
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.
