Frequently Asked Questions

---

The Psammofiles Bee is a two-day event. On January 25th, the Preliminary and Quarterfinal segments of the competition will occur. On January 26th, the Semifinals and Grand Finals will conclude the Bee. The competition is hosted on Zoom. All contestants must have a working microphone and camera. 

This competition is designed to provide practice for Scripps. So, the first two rounds of the preliminaries will come from the Words of the Champions Study Guide. After the first two rounds, there is no study source. There are four segments of competition: Preliminaries, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Grand Finals. In each segment, there's a spelling round, a vocabulary round, and a spelling round. The Grand Finals will be spelling, vocabulary, and spelling until a champion is declared. There is no spell-off due to security reasons. 

Last year, the Psammofiles Bee raised over $1600. This money was distributed to reading initiatives across the Tampa Bay region. All of our services and products are created by local St. Pete businesses. The ceramic trophy is made by our pottery partner - The Muddy Walrus! This year, all proceeds will be donated to Hurricane Milton and Helene relief funds.