The 2022 Alabama State Spelling Bee will take place Saturday, March 26, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Alabama Kiwanis Foundation is the official sponsor of the Alabama State Spelling Bee, which is also supported by Scripps as well as hundreds of schools across the state. The private event is in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences’ University Hall auditorium at noon.
Fifty students in fourth through eighth grades from counties across the state will participate. More than 645 schools have participated in bees, culminating with the 50 student winners who will vie for the 2022 Alabama State Spelling Bee Champion.
The pronouncers are Janet Keys and John Hubbard, and judges are Armand St. Raymond, Sandra Harrell, Stephen Epley and Douglas Ragland. The winner of the Alabama State Spelling Bee will represent the state at Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in May, which is now annually broadcast on ION Television.
Nine newspapers collaborated to start the National Spelling Bee in 1925. In 1941, Scripps took over sponsorship of the National Spelling Bee. 2020 is the only time since World War II (1943-1945) that the bee has canceled the national finals since the program’s inception in 1925. In 2021 the bees were held virtually.
In 2019, eight co-winners of the National Spelling Bee were declared, including Alabama student Erin Howard, 14. Scripps named two winners as recently as 2016, but the competition had not recognized more than a two-way tie since it began in 1925. Alabama has had only one other Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, Julie Junkin, in 1974.