For most of us, being called a nerd in school was an insult. But Explocity's MD and Editor-in-Chief, Ramjee Chandran thinks it should be otherwise.

The city centric media company is hosting The Explocity 1st Annual Spelling Bee, a spelling competition for school kids in Bangalore.

Apart from trying to find the best school-level spelling wizard in the city, the event is meant to "encourage 'nerdism' being cool," says Chandran.

A popular concept in schools in America, Explocity is eager to bring the same to India. Especially since it has been noticed that the kids coming out as winners from these competitions are usually Indians. 10 of the last 15 spelling bee contest winners in the US have been children of Indian origin, explains Chandran. "You must watch the documentary Spellbound," he goes on to recommend.

The competition is undoubtedly meant to improve the vocabulary of children but at the same time it’s also about instilling fun in learning. "Samosa eating competition can also be fun. This is samosas for the mind, if you will," says Chandran.

Around 250 schools have been personally invited to take part in the competition. 64 of them have already confirmed their participation, including Baldwin Boys High School, St Josephs Boys High School, Army Public School, DPS Yelahanka and Mallya Aditi International School.

The competition is open to all school students aged 13 to 16 years. And to make things more relevant to the kids of today, the competition even allows a ‘wild card entry’ through a contest on Facebook.

The title sponsor for The Explocity Spelling Bee will be Embassy Group, the property developers who also own Stonehill International School and Embassy International Riding School. Chairman and Managing Director of Embassy Group, Jitendra Virwani, said, "We have always tried to keep a strong focus on education. In its own, small way, the Spelling Bee will help improve the education system."

The mechanism of the Spelling Bee is simple. Each school may send up to 5 students to participate. The event, which will be a daylong one, will start with an Open Round. The top 40 students to pass this round will compete to be among the top ten to go to the semi-finals. The last two students standing will go head to head for the title of Bangalore's best speller.

The Explocity 1st Annual Spelling Bee 2013 will take place on December 8, 2013 at Jyoti Nivas College in Koramangala.

For now, the competition is open to schools in Bangalore only. But in years to come, they are hoping to spread the buzz nationally.

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