With words that had the audience in a ‘stupor’, 60 Premier's Spelling Bee finalists ‘furiously’ racked their brains last Friday in a showcase of ‘literacy’ skills.

After 11 nerve-racking rounds, Year 3 New Lambton Public School student, Wafiq Ayyash won this year’s junior finals with the word ‘treachery’, a word he said he “was quite relieved I’d heard of before”.

Wafiq and his parents moved to Australia from Bangladesh just three years ago, with English the winner’s second language.

The first-time Spelling Bee contestant was one of almost 200,000 primary school students who competed to make it to the finals on Friday, 1 November at the Q Theatre in Penrith.

Like many Bee winners before him, Wafiq is an avid reader who said that reading books had been the most help to learning and improving his English and spelling.

“I love to read books by Andy Griffiths and David Walliams, and I also like to read the dictionary,” Wafiq said.

This is the second year in a row a first-time Newcastle competitor has taken out the junior finals, with Maya Thiruchelvamn from Hamilton South Public School winning last year’s finals with ‘tortellini’.

For second-time junior finalist and runner-up Bobby (Bogdan) Ivaneza, it was ‘livelihood’ that ended the Year 4 Annandale Public School student’s impressive run.

Donning his signature red headband, Bobby returned to the finals with the strategy of “try and decode the word”.

“I try and break a word up into as many little parts as possible, because you’ll get overwhelmed if you try and spell it as one big word,” Bobby explained.

Bobby said he was eager to give the Spelling Bee finals another crack next year as a senior finalist and said he was ready to “try and get from third place, to second, to first”.

“If you believe in yourself and don’t second guess yourself, you’ll do great things,” encouraged Bobby.

Likewise, third runner-up and crowd favourite, Eyad Mohamed from Wollongong Public School was also motivated to give the Spelling Bee another go next year.

The Year 4 student who wore his heart on his sleeve throughout the competition stayed on to watch the senior finals with his parents in the hope of getting an insight into what could be in store for him next year.

“After the junior state final, I thought, maybe next year I’ll make it, so I thought I’d get a little peek, and watch it,” said Eyad.

“Of course [I’ll try again next year], do you seriously think I’d come third in the state final and then not give it another go!?”

Returning finalist takes out senior round in ‘epitome’ of competition cliffhanger

After a nail-biting junior round, the 30 senior finalists wove their way through a ‘labyrinth’ of tricky words with a ‘modicum’ of nervousness, showcasing their ‘predilection’ for spelling.

Year 5 Coonabarabran Public School student William Weatherall competed in the Bee for an impressive third time, but only made it through the first few rounds.

Words like "curmudgeonly", and "assiduous” quickly reduced student numbers throughout 10 rounds until there were only two contestants left – Year 6 students Mary Emile Obligado from Hunter School of the Performing Arts and Zachary Forgie from Samuel Gilbert Public School.

It looked like a win for Newcastle competitor Mary Emile who spelled “hydrangea” correctly, however nerves got the better of her and she exceeded the time limit taking several attempts to spell the word correctly.

“I was struggling with the pronunciation of the word, but it’s my sister’s favourite flower, I did know it!” insisted Mary Emile.

A smile came across Zachary’s face as he was asked to spell ‘epitome’, a word he said he was very familiar with.

“I’m just so happy, I didn’t expect to win,” said Zachary.

Zachary said to do well in the Spelling Bee took a lot of time and preparation.

“The Bee has taught me how hard working I can be and if I put my mind to it, I can do it,” Zachary said.

“To prepare I read through the dictionary, I highlighted any of the challenging words and kept testing myself. You definitely have to study outside of the list and really put the hours in.”

The Premier’s Spelling Bee encourages students to improve their vocabulary and spelling and promotes literacy skills in combination with the English K-6 Syllabus.

The 2024 NSW Premier’s Spelling Bee is proudly supported by Primary English Teaching Association Australia, ABC Radio Sydney and ACCO Brands Australia, and Word List Partner Macquarie Dictionary.