Aotearoa New Zealand Spelling Bee

Hillcrest High School has a long history of competing in the Aotearoa New Zealand Spelling Bee competition. It has run since 2005 and the very first national winner back then was Hillcrest student, Charlotte Roose!

The tradition continues and again, we were represented exceptionally well this year at the semi finals on the 16th of September by Kayla Bryant, Isabelle Huang, Emilia Shyra, Ash Albus, Zaina Sayyed, Dan Nguyen, Percival Gilsen and Tokusho Littlewood. They all competed in increasingly tense knockout rounds against 35 other competitors from schools as far away as New Plymouth. Congratulations to Percival Gilsen who secured a place in the finals in Wellington by making it into the top three spellers! He won return air tickets for two and accommodation overnight so he can compete in the final in Wellington on 1-2 November. The winner of the 2023 Aotearoa New Zealand Spelling Bee receives $5000 and the 2024 Spelling Bee Champion Trophy. Good luck, Percival!