1. Students in seventh and eighth grade are eligible to participate.

2. Each district may send 2 entries – one boy and one girl, regardless of 7th or 8th grade.  Students will compete against their own gender.

3. Each contestant will deliver, from memory, a speech no longer than 7 minutes, and no shorter than 4 minutes.  Original speeches may be longer than 7 minutes, and only a portion of the original speech delivered.

4. The competition will consist of two rounds.  Before the competition begins, each contestant will draw a number to determine the order in which they will compete.

5. Declamation does not include either poetry or dramatic readings. To clarify: Declamation is an historical speech written and delivered by the original author.  On the entry sheet for Diocesan Competition, there will be a space for title, author, and date, if known – when and where the speech was given.

6. Scoring will be based on balloting by at least 4, no more than 6 judges. The host district will provide the judges.

7. Awards will be given to the 1st and 2nd place boy and 1st and 2nd place girl.

8. At the district competition, the registration form should include the child's name, phone number, speech title, when and where the speech was originally given, who gave the speech, and the audience to whom the speech was given.  The moderator's name and phone number should also be included.

9. At the district level, the judges must make sure that the speech to be presented by each contestant fits the category of DECLAMATION.

10. On the parish or school level, if there is any uncertainty about the eligibility of a speech, contact the District Coordinator prior to the District Competition.

11. The same speech used for the District Competition must be used for the Diocesan Competition.

1. District Champions eligible for the Diocesan Final must be in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. Three representatives from each grade level per District will be entered into the Diocesan Competition.

2. The finals will be an oral competition with eliminations on a "miss-and-out" basis.

3. Before the competition begins, each contestant will draw a number to determine the order in which they will compete.

4. In competition, after the pronouncer gives the contestant a word, it is requested that the contestant pronounce the word and pause before starting to spell.  This will give the pronouncer and the judges an opportunity to correct the contestant if he has misunderstood the word given.  Pronunciation, however, will not have any bearing on the qualification or the elimination of any contestant.

5. The contestant may request the pronouncer to re-pronounce the word, define it, or use it in a sentence.  The pronouncer shall grant a total of three presentations of the word to the contestant.  After the third presentation of the word, the contestant must begin spelling within 30 seconds and complete spelling within 90 seconds, or the judges will disqualify him.

6. Upon missing the spelling of a word, the contestant immediately drops out of the competition. The next word on the list is given to the next contestant in line.

7. Once a contestant begins to spell a word, letters cannot be changed once they are pronounced.  A speller, having started to spell a word, may retrace the word, provided that letters and their order of sequence are are not changed in the retracing.

8. If no definition of a homonym is given, the correct spelling of either word shall be accepted as correct.  When a speller is given the definition of a homonym, he / she must spell the correct word (the word defined.)

9. Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged will serve as the final authority for the spelling of words.

10. When the contestants are reduced to two, the elimination procedure changes. As soon as one contestant misspells a word, the other contestant immediately shall be given an opportunity to spell the same word.  If the second contestant spells that word correctly, plus the next word on the pronouncer's list, then that contestant shall be declared the winner.

11. If one of the last two spellers, after correcting the misspelled word of the other speller, then goes on to misspell his/her new word, that word shall be referred back to the first speller for correction.  If the first speller succeeds in correcting the misspelling and spells his I her own word correctly, then he/she shall be declared the champion.

12. If both misspell the same word, both shall continue in the competition.

13. Any protest relating to the spelling of a word must be referred to the judges immediately.  No protest can be entertained after a round is completed or after the contest is terminated.

14. The judges are is complete control of the Bee. Their decision shall be final in all protests.

15. It is strongly recommended that the districts follow this format so that the spellers will be familiar with the Diocesan Finals format.

16. Two rounds of warm-up words will be given.   If a word is missed during warm-up, the speller will not be eliminated from competition.   The competition officially begins with the third round.