The 2012 Virginian-Pilot Spelling Bee

WHRO will once again host The Virginian-Pilot Spelling Bee this year, and you’re invited to be in the audience – all from the comfort of your own living room. At 2pm on Saturday, February 11th, more than 40 of the area’s finest middle school spellers will compete for this year’s title, and we’ll broadcast it live!

We’re excited that 2012 marks our fifth year partnering with The Virginian-Pilot to present the regional spelling bee as a televised broadcast. Throughout southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, public schools, independent schools and home school associations have all held local school bees and will send their winners to WHRO to compete. Once again, WHRO-FM announcer and former educator Dr. Raymond Jones will host the broadcast and serve as the official Bee pronouncer.

It’s always inspiring to watch these poised young students work out derivations, meanings, etymologies and languages of origin to come up with the one exact answer that will advance them to the next round. The intensity on their faces as they spell each word illustrates the hard work they’ve put in to become champions – and in fact, they're each and every one a champ!

If you like seeing young people at their best, this is a must-see! And if you miss the live broadcast, you can tune in to the WHRO Kids (15.3) channel at 7pm on February 18th for the rebroadcast – or after April 1st, it will be available here on our website. We have to wait until all Bees are conducted in the nation before we can stream the program.


Watch on-demand streams of previous Spelling Bees.

2011 broadcast

2010 broadcast 

2009 broadcast 

2008 broadcast (Windows Media Player required)