Mosaic Life Care Foundation will host and sponsor the Northwest Missouri Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 13, at emPowerU, 518 South 6th St.
Registration for the spelling bee will begin at 12:30 p.m., followed by the competition at 1 p.m. Upon arrival, Mosaic Life Care Foundation will follow appropriate guidelines with visitors, including temperature screenings, face mask requirements, social distancing, and providing hand sanitizing stations.
Fourteen counties in Northwest Missouri each send their top two spellers to compete. The champion speller will move on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee preliminary, quarterfinal, and semifinal rounds. This year, due to the global pandemic, the preliminaries, quarterfinals, and semifinals at the national level will be held virtually in the weeks leading up to the July 8 finals and be broadcast live on ESPN platforms. The semifinals are slated for June 27, and dates for the earlier virtual rounds will be announced this spring.
The top 10-12 finalists from the semifinal rounds will travel to Orlando, Florida, to compete in-person at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort. The final rounds of the Bee will be broadcast live in primetime on ESPN2.
Judges for the 2021 Regional Bee are Jeanette Malita, Lori Witham, and Joe Marmaud. Karen Heyde-Lipanovich serves as director and pronouncer for the competition.
