The North American School Scrabble Championship, formerly the National School Scrabble Championship, is a

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...

tournament for 3rd grade to

8th grade Eighth grade (or grade eight in some regions) is the eighth post-kindergarten year of formal education in the US. The eighth grade is the ninth school year, the second, third, fourth, or final year of middle school, or the second and/or final ye ...

students, held annually in North America since 2003.

History

In 2018, 3rd graders were allowed to compete for the first time. Prior to 2012, 5th graders were the youngest grade allowed to compete. The School Scrabble Championship uses the

Official Scrabble Players Dictionary The ''Official Scrabble Players Dictionary'' or OSPD is a dictionary developed for use in the game Scrabble, by speakers of American and Canadian English. History Background and creation The ''Official Scrabble Players Dictionary'' was first ...

. The competition is in tournament

play, in which teams of two play for 25 minutes with digital timers similar to those used in the

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

. The time limit was originally 22 minutes for each side until 2012 when the switch was made to coincide with the traditional times of the Adult Nationals. The team with the most wins is determined the winner. If there are multiple teams with the same number of wins, cumulative point spread is used to break the tie. Matthew Silver of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

became the first competitor to win two consecutive National School Scrabble Championship titles, in 2007 (with Aune Mitchell) and 2008 (with Logan Rosen). Matt Silver accumulated a 14-0 record in those two years. In 2009, for the first time ever, the event was won by a team of 5th graders, Andy Hoang and Erik Salgado of Salem Elementary in North Carolina. They were the last team to finish the tournament with an undefeated record (7-0) until 2018, when the team of Jeffrey Pogue (CT) and Noah Slatoff (ON) finished with a perfect 9-0 record. The champions finished 6-1 in 2010, 7-1 in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, and 8-1 in 2017 and 2019. The winners have often been invited to be on Good Morning America and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The event has also received recognition from president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

and NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal, who are advocates for the game themselves. In 2012, Andy Hoang and Erik Salgado of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

became the first team to win two NSSC titles, their first as 5th graders in 2009, and their second as 8th graders in 2012. In 2019, Jeffrey Pogue and Noah Slatkoff became the first team to win consecutive championships. The 2013 NSSC was held in Washington D.C. 2013 marked the first time since 2009 that a previous champion did not compete. In 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2019 Andy Hoang, Erik Salgado, Bradley Robbins, Evan McCarthy, Jeffrey Pogue, and Noah Slatkoff were champions that returned. Andy Hoang and Erik Salgado and Jeffrey Pogue and Noah Slatkoff were the only ones to repeat during the streak, with Jeffrey Pogue and Noah Slatkoff being the first to win back-to-back championships. With Jeffrey Pogue and Noah Slatkoff's win in 2019, Connecticut became the first state to hold 4 National titles: Connecticut players Matthew Silver (2007 and 2008), Aune Mitchell (2007), Logan Rosen (2008), and Jeffrey Pogue (2018 and 2019). California and North Carolina teams have won 3 National titles: California players Zach Ansell (2015 and 2017), Jem Burch (2016 and 2017), and Cooper Komatsu (2016); and North Carolina Players Andy Hoang (2009 and 2012), Erik Salgado (2009 and 2012), Kevin Bowerman (2013), and Raymond Gao (2013). Canadian teams were permitted to compete in this event starting in 2010, and 2011 saw the first Canadian champions: Alex Li and Jackson Smylie from Ontario. In 2018 and 2019 Noah Slatkoff, also from Ontario, was champion (with Jeffrey Pogue from Connecticut). In 2014, champion Thomas Draper became the first three-time finalist. The 2014 NASC was the first tournament to return to Providence since 2009. 2015 was the second year in a row where a bi-coastal team won the tournament and the fourth consecutive time where a team from North Carolina played in the final game. In 2018 the first U.S.-Canadian team won. Selected games from these tournaments were aired live with commentary on the internet. In 2017, champions Zach Ansell and Jem Burch both won for the second time, but with different teammates. Zach won with Noah Kalus in 2015, and Jem won with Cooper Komatsu in 2016. In 2019, Jeffrey Pogue and Noah Slatkoff became the first team to win two years consecutively, under the team name Rackmasters. In 2017, High School and Challenge divisions were added to the event. The 2017 High School division winner was Kevin Bowerman (NC), who was champion (with Raymond Gao) in 2013; Challenge division winners were Audrey Benford (MD) and Dina Lacugna (CT).

Past winners

References

External links

National School Scrabble ChampionshipSchool Scrabble
{{Scrabble Scrabble competitions

History

Past winners

See also

References

External links