Behind the Mic: What Does It Mean to Be a Word Setter and Announcer at Collins Spell Bee

Season 7 of the Collins Spelling Bee drew over 20,000 students, culminating in a national finale in New Delhi. A couple of years ago, I wrote about what Collins Spelling Bee’s half-decade journey means for participants and schools across India. Read it here. TL;DR: schools and students hold it in very high regard.

But that was year 1 of me being the word setter after Dr Elaine Higgleton moved on from Collins; for the first 4 years, I was the adjudicator and announcer. From season 5 onwards, I transitioned to being the word setter, adjudicator, and announcer. Crazy burden for my tiny shoulders :/

And so, after 3 years of playing the aforementioned roles in the credits, I wanted to talk about what the job entails. Let’s get right into it.

Setting words for India’s premier spelling bee competition means asking the same two questions over and over: Does this word’s difficulty match the other words in the same word-band? And is there a similar-sounding or look-alike word the speller could confuse it with?

A good word rewards a participant who has learned how language works, not one who got lucky. So, in higher bands, I look for words with a catch, a double letter, a silent syllable or the old-favourite “e before i except after c” that a prepared speller can still reason their way through.

Then comes the announcer’s job, which is harder than it sounds. I have to pronounce each word clearly and give a fair definition without leaning on any letter. Then I have to go quiet and expressionless. The thirty seconds given to the participants feel very short to them but very long to the rest of us.

This season, I watched that silence play out with words like souvenir, paraphernalia, bioluminescence and disproportionate, among others. Each one tripped up a finalist. They’re not obscure words; children their age do use them, just not often. But they’re the kind that look friendly until you have to spell them under bright lights with the room watching.

I won’t pretend it’s easy to see. When a participant gets a word right, I feel relief and joy in equal parts. When they miss, I feel it too. I set that word not as a trap but because I wanted them to showcase their capabilities. One can see how close they were to the correct spelling. Sometimes the length of the word gets too much (paraphernalia and bioluminescence), and other times, it has an irregular spelling owing to its language of origin (souvenir).

In the end, the winning word for Atyukt Behuray from Ahmedabad was succession: two Cs, two Ss, and a double dose of nerves. Spelling it right, to win the title in his second attempt, took the kind of composure only experience can teach.

That’s why I cherish it: finding the right balance with every word, at every stage, in every season. Every word is a small test, and every speller leaves a little more prepared than they arrived.

Until next time!