9 year old Pasha Kamenya wins K1 million at Spell Master Bee competition finals
Nine year old standard 6 Primary School Pupil from Kasasa Primary School in Nkhotakota Pasha Kamenya emerged the champion in the Junior Category of the National Spell Master Bee Competition finals to cut home a cool K1 million prize.
The grand finale took place on Saturday 4th May, 2016 at the Sunbird Mount Soche Hotel in the Commercial City of Blantyre.
Kamenya beat school mate Alinafe Chikhoswe following a tie forcing the organizers to add two more rounds in which the two were still on each other’s neck producing the most exciting and thrilling spelling bee grand final ever but at the end of the day Kamenya emerged the victor.
In the senior category, the two last finalists Jacqueline Malombe and Vanessa Sherry also levelled on points prompting the Chief Pronouncer, Miss Regina Kaiya to use the 30 championship word list to
break the ties.
This did not either produce the winner as both Malombe and Sherry kept on producing a stunning perfomance.
The judges desk then decided to issue three more rounds with a possibility of breaking the tie for the grand prize winner but they kept on getting their words right.
This prompted organizers to consult Sunbird’s Group Sales and Marketing Manager Titania Katenga Kaunda for guidance on the proceedings.
She acknowledged the efforts and brilliance that the two girl finalists displayed.
To show appreciation of their efforts and as one way of showing pure gesture of empowering girls education, Katenga Kaunda announced that both will be equally awarded the prize meant for the grand master.
“Sunbird as a group believed that this competition intends to enhance , empower and enrich young
learners experience in schools. Living up to Sunbird Group’s promise since there’s a tie on Senior Champions, Sunbird will award both Senior Speller Champions with MK1, 000,000 each,” said Katenga Kaunda attracting a huge ululation from the audience.
She said this is part of corporate and social responsibility for Sunbird Group being a pioneer in the hospitality industry and as a ‘Home of Hospitality’ which also put education matters at heart.
Kaunda further said through the Spelling Bee Competition, it is evidenced that the competition can catalyse and improve English (education) quality in Malawian schools hence the need for support.
Other prizes for the winners included Certificates from Fattani Offset Printers, Books from National Library and hampers from A1 Biscuits.
All the three winners will be leaving for Johannesburg South Africa on 14th July, 2016 to represent Malawi at the first ever African International Spelling Bee to be held on 16th July, 2016.
There, a grand prize of a fully paid under-graduate scholarship to attend Monash (University) South Africa, worth over $20,000 awaits the champion.
Co-Founder and Cordinator of African Bee Competition Lewis Mbaula said he is happy that the competition was held successfully.
He also hailed Sunbird and A1 Biscuits for providing financial and material support towards the initiative.
Mbaula therefore vowed to soldier on with his desire to enhance the reading culture, build vocabulary, build confidence, encourage public speaking and give educational exposure to children aged between six and 16.
The spelling bee is organized by Spell Master Educational Communications (SMECO), in partnership with Zodiak Broadcasting Services (ZBS) and with technical support from the Department of Inspectorate and Advisory Services under Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoES
The just ended competition attracted over 700 students from different Primary and Seconary Schools but on 32 students from 21 schools made it to the finals.
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