KEY POINTS:
Cripes.
It's hard enough to say quinquennially, let alone spell it.
And then there's com... m... iserate.
After what seems like eons but is at the most 20 seconds, Christchurch's Sophie McKellar, eyes closed, fists firmly clenched, gets the word out.
And boy, do we ever - commiserate, that is. In those few short moments, the body language of this neatly plaited 13-year-old shows to everyone watching just how stomach-churning this whole shebang is.
It is round six of the third New Zealand National Spelling Bee, and already five of the country's best spellers have heard the bell toll. The pronouncer, former telly Mastermind Hamish McDouall, advises calm.
They say waiting for the bell's the worst thing. Like a hangman's noose, they reckon.
Because it's the bell that signals this game is very definitely over.
Round nine and Sophie has her hands over her eyes. Another three starters, including Auckland regional winner George Morrison from St Kentigern, have been eliminated.
George, 13, who's just wolfed down pancakes and a jugful of maple syrup (brain food, apparently) says he goes into a "spelling zone" when he's in front of the mike.
"It's all about my head. There's not much point in getting too extravagant about moving other parts of the body."
He won the local event with "camouflage". It was "entourage" that did his head in this time.
The Brierley Theatre, Wellington College, is not exactly Hollywood, but the 12 kids here today are buzzing with excitement. The winner of the nationals gets to compete at the world-renowned - thanks largely to the film Spellbound - Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC, in May.
Linwood College's Kate Weir, one of 250 Year 9 kids from around the country who entered this year's contest - has caused the biggest fuss. Christchurch airport has been closed by fog and she's running late. The organisers put off the start time, meaning another 30 minutes of nail biting and leg shuffling for the waiting contestants.
Ironically, it's Kate (fav books: Terry Pratchett's Discworld series; wants to be a writer) who takes the top spot. In the 13th round. I wonder, does she believe in omens... She laughs about it later, the 475,000 word dictionary she'd just won under her arm.
She'd asked her mum Paula, if they didn't make it to Wellington, could she please, please get a video, "X-Men I or II... she said she'd be so annoyed if we didn't, because I was her ticket to the States."
Parents, eh?
