Eligibility:

• A speller qualifying for the 2010  South Asian Spelling must meet these requirements:

• The speller must have been born on or after September 1st 1995 to be eligible for the 2010 South Asian Spelling Bee.
• At least one parent or grandparent of the speller must be of South Asian descent. To be of South Asian descent, an individual must be able to trace his or her lineage to one of the following nations: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

• A speller can participate in only one regional center for any given contest. For example, a speller cannot participate in New York once eliminated in the New Jersey Competition of the 2010  South Asian Spelling Bees.
•  It is the responsibility of the parent/guardian to make certain that his/her child is not participating in more than one contest at the same time and meets the eligibility criteria.

The 2010 South Asian Spelling Bee reserves the right to verify the date of birth and/or grade of the spellers and revoke the rank(s) and prize(s) in case of any discrepancy. The South Asian Spelling Bee may disqualify prior to or during competition any speller who is not in compliance with any of its eligibility requirements; and it may—at any time between the commencement and conclusion of the 2010  South Asian Spelling Bee—require any speller who is found to have not been in compliance with any of the eligibility requirements to forfeit the prizes, rank, and other benefits accorded to the speller as a result of participation in the 2010  South Asian Spelling Bee.

Registration:

• All spellers must register online at www.southasianspellingbee.com using a valid credit card.
• There will be no on-site registration. It is the responsibility of the speller/parents to register their children on-line before the registration deadline as applicable to each center.

Format:
Primaries:
At the Primaries, the spelling bee will be conducted as follows. 

• There will be a written round of 25 words.
• Spellers will be asked to spell 25 words by the pronouncer.
• The pronouncer will say the word and its definition. Spellers will have 60 seconds for each word to be spelled.
• To proceed onto the ORAL round, the speller needs to spell 15 words or more correctly.

Regionals:
At the regionals, the spelling bee will be conducted as follows. 

• The regionals may have up to 12 rounds and spellers will be eliminated as they misspell.
• If at the end of the 12th round, there is more than 1 speller left, the regionals will be extended into nth round.
• The nth round can be held before reaching the 12th round if only 2 spellers are left.
• The nth round will continue until there are two correct speller left.
• One of these two spellers will have to out spell the other for the title of Regional champ.

The regional champ and the runner up speller will move on to the FINALS contest in NJ.
Finals:
At the finals, the spelling bee will be conducted as follows. 

• The top 2 spellers from the regionals in each center  will compete in the finals in New Jersey.
• The Finals will be conducted completely in the oral format as described in the regionals.
• Travel cost from the qualifying speller's center of participation and accommodation for spellers (and one parent/guardian per Speller) for the Finals in New Jersey will be arranged for by The 2010  South Asian Spelling Bee.
• To win, the champ will have to out-spell his/her other opponents on the day of the Finals.

Rules & Guidelines:

1. Written Contest: The speller will be given 60 seconds to write down the word after a pronouncer has finished pronouncing and defining the word. The speller is not allowed to ask any questions during the session. At the end of the written segment all sheets will be graded and the qualifying names of spellers announced.
2. Role of the Pronouncer: The pronouncer shall attempt to pronounce words according to the diacritical markings in Webster's Third New International Dictionary .
3. Role of the Speller: During the Oral Contest a speller is entitled to ask the pronouncer:-
• to say the word again,
• define it,
• use it in a sentence,
• provide the part of speech,
• provide the language(s) of origin,
• The speller can not retract his or her letter once they have begun spelling.


4. Homonyms: If a word has one or more homonyms, the pronouncer indicates which word is to be spelled by defining the word.
5. If all spellers in a round misspell: If none of the spellers remaining in the spelling bee at the start of a round spells a word correctly during that round, all remain in the competition and a new round begins.
6. If only one speller in a round spells correctly: If only one speller spells correctly in a round, a new one-word round begins and the speller is given an opportunity to spell the next word on the list (anticipated championship word). If the speller succeeds in correctly spelling the anticipated championship word in this one-word round, the speller is declared the champion.
7. End-of-bee procedure: 

If a speller misspells the anticipated championship word in a one-word round: A new round begins with ALL the spellers who spelled (correctly and incorrectly) in the previous round. These spellers spell in their original order.
Example: In Round 8 there are three spellers. Speller 12 spells correctly and Spellers 23 and 37 misspell. Round 9—a one-word round—begins, and Speller 12 is offered the anticipated championship word. Speller 12 misspells the anticipated championship word. Round 10 begins and includes Spellers 12, 23, and 37. The rules prescribe that those spellers 12, 23, and 37 spell in their original order; so Speller 12 gets the next word on the list even though Speller 12 misspelled the previous word on the list. Round 10 is not complete until all three spellers have spelled.

8. Interaction with the speller: Because seeing the speller's lip movements may be critical in detecting misunderstandings or misspellings, the judges encourage spellers to face them when pronouncing and spelling the word.
9. Notice of rules: The judges ensure that all spellers and audience members are given an opportunity to receive a complete copy of the rules prior to the start of the spelling bee.
10. Misunderstandings: The judges participate in the exchange of information between the speller and pronouncer if they feel that clarification is needed. Also, the judges listen carefully to the speller's pronunciation of the word; and, if they sense that the speller has misunderstood the word, the judge’s work with the speller and pronouncer until they are satisfied that reasonable attempts have been made to assist the speller in understanding the word. While the judges are responsible for attempting to detect a speller's misunderstanding, it is sometimes impossible to detect a misunderstanding until a spelling error has been made. The judges are not responsible for the speller's misunderstanding.
11. Pronouncer errors: The judges compare the pronouncer's pronunciation with the diacritical markings in the word list. If the judges feel that the pronouncer's pronunciation does not match the pronunciation specified in the diacritical markings, the judges direct the pronouncer to correct the error as soon as it is detected.
12. Disqualifications for reasons other than clear misspelling: The judges will disqualify a speller (1) who refuses a request to start spelling; (2) who does not approach the microphone when it is time to receive the word; (3) who does not comply with the eligibility requirements; (4) who engages in unsportsmanlike conduct; (5) who, in the process of retracing a spelling, alters the letters or sequence of letters from those first uttered; or (6) who, in the process of spelling, utters unintelligible or nonsense sounds.
13. Speller activities that do not merit disqualification: The judges may not disqualify a speller (1) for failing to pronounce the word either before or after spelling it, (2) for asking a question, or (3) for noting or failing to note the capitalization of a word.
14. Speller's role: The speller makes an effort to face the judges and pronounce the word for the judges before spelling it and after spelling it. The speller while facing the judges makes an effort to utter each letter distinctly and with sufficient volume to be understood by the judges. The speller may ask the pronouncer to say the word again, define it, use it in a sentence, provide the part of speech, provide the language(s) of origin, and/or provide an alternate pronunciation or pronunciations. The speller can not retract his or her letter once they have begun spelling. Once the spllers questions (as indicated in Rule 3) have been answered, the speller must begin spelling the word within 60 seconds.
15. Misunderstandings: The speller is responsible for any misunderstanding of the word unless (1) the pronouncer never provided a correct pronunciation; (2) the pronouncer provided incorrect information regarding the definition, part of speech, or language of origin; or (3) the speller correctly spelled a homonym of the word and the pronouncer failed to either offer a definition or distinguish the homonyms.
16. Correction of a misspelling: The pronouncer and judges will not ask the speller to correct another speller's misspelling, even in end-of-bee circumstances.
17. Misspelling: Upon incorrectly spelling a word, the speller immediately drops out of the competition, except as provided in Rule 5.
18. Appeals: The speller's parent(s), legal guardian, or teacher may appeal to the judges for the speller's reinstatement provided that the appeal is in compliance with the appeal protocol. The judges render a final decision on the appeal in accordance with the reinstatement protocol.
19. Appeal protocol: A written appeal must be hand delivered to the designated official (usually the spelling bee coordinator/director). The deadline for delivering an appeal is before the speller affected would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the spelling bee; however, to minimize disruptions to the spelling bee, every effort should be made to deliver an appeal by the end of the round in which the speller was eliminated. When five or fewer spellers remain, the written appeal requirement is suspended, and an oral appeal must be made before the speller would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the spelling bee. A written appeal must provide the speller's name, the word in question, and the reason the speller should be reinstated. While the competition is in session, individuals who have filed appeals may not directly approach the judges unless explicit permission to approach the judges has been given. The judges will contact the speller if they decide to reinstate the speller. To minimize disruption to the pace of the spelling bee and the concentration of the spellers, the judges are under no obligation to stop the spelling bee in order to discuss with the speller's parent(s), legal guardian, or teacher a denied appeal. The judges' decisions are final and are subject neither to review nor to reversal by any authority.
20. Disqualification request: An appeal seeking to dislodge another speller from the spelling bee should be denied.

On the Day of the Contest:

• Spellers and their parents/guardians must report to the check-in desk and produce their online registration receipt and any one form of ID for the speller. (Passport/ US birth certificate/School Picture ID)
• After check-in, spellers will be issued Buttons that must be worn at all times during the contest.
• It is the responsibility of the spellers to be present at the contest room 30 minutes before the contest starts. Latecomers will not be allowed to compete in the contests.
• Parental interruption in any form during the contest is unacceptable and the organizers reserves the right to ask the parent(s) to leave the contest venue or face disqualification of the speller.
• The spelling and vocabulary contests shall be judged using Webster's Third New International Unabridged Dictionary. Words shall be pronounced according to the diacritical markings of the dictionary.
• A speller has the right to dispute judge's decision and request a hearing before the start of the next round in the contest. Parents are not allowed to approach judges directly.
• Parents can submit a written complaint/dispute to an onsite volunteer who will, based upon the merits of the claim, refer the matter to the judges at the end of that round. In any dispute, decision of the judges is final.
• The Organizers reserves the right to conduct a tie-breaker and/or announce joint winners or declare winners based on criteria that it deems fit to end the contest in a timely manner.
• Any changes to the rules will be announced before the start of the competition, but the judges always have the right to change rules on site without prior notice if the situation warrants. All decisions made by the judges are final.
• No videography, nor the use of cell-phone cameras, is permitted during the contests. The organization reserves the right to take photos and videos for its use.
• A contest may not take place on the designated date under circumstances beyond the control of the Touchdown Media Inc. In such cases, the Touchdown Media Inc. will try to reschedule the contest at a later date. However, Touchdown Media Inc., its officers, and volunteers are not responsible for any other consequences, in any form, as a result of such circumstances.

Indemnity: All spellers, their legal guardians, parents and registrants hold Touchdown Media its affiliated entities, employees, directors, officers, licensees, agents, designees, successors and assigns (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) harmless from and against any and all claims, losses, costs, liabilities, damages, and expenses, including counsel fees, of every kind, nature, and description, including, but not limited to libel, slander, illegal competition or trade practices, or infringement of trade marks or program titles, violation of any statutory or regulatory prohibition on commercial content, violation of rights of privacy, and infringement of copyrights and proprietary rights.

Refunds: After registration it is the responsibility of the speller and their parent/guardian to check in at the appropriate time and place. NO REFUNDS will be issued under any circumstances.

Source of Reference:

• All words used at the South Asian Spelling Bee will be from the Consolidated word list from spellingbee.com. For convenience the word lists* area available in the Study Source section of the website www.southasianspellingbee.com.
• Words used and definitions given will be in the Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Words will be pronounced according to the diacritical markings.
• Spellers should use the consolidated word list as a guide but also prepare from the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.

*Source is spellingbee.com