Eligibility

1. A contestant must be of age 18 or above, or if less, must be a student at a higher institution.
2. A contestant must not have any relatives - siblings, cousins, nephews, nieces, parents, uncles, aunties - who are current staff members or employees of the Metro Spelling Bee.
3. Contestants are required immediately after registration to follow the Metro National Spelling Bee page on Facebook for regular and timely updates.
4. Graduates and postgraduate students are not eligible to participate.
5. A contestant may not be less than 18 years by May 7th, 2022, or if less, must be a student at a higher institution.
6. A contestant must be a student at a higher institution or posses a UTME (JAMB) score of 160 or above by May 7th, 2022.
7. All students at colleges, polytechnics and universities in Nigeria are eligible to register to compete for the prizes.
8. A contestant must pay a nonrefundable fee of three thousand naira (N3,000) only to register, or transfer directly into the company's account, and obtain our spelling handout of ten thousand words.

The 2022 Word List

The 2022 Word List is a spelling study material or handout that contains ten thousand (10,000) words in two volumes. Vol. 1 contains seven thousand (7000) English words. All the words to be spelt at the prelims and the regionals will be taken from Vol. 1.
Vol. 2 contains 3000 words of French (1500), German(1000) and Spanish (500). All the words to be spelt at the Finals will be taken from both volume 1 (70%) and volume 2 (30% or less).

The Preliminaries

The preliminaries will take place online. To participate in the preliminaries, every contestant is required to login to https://metrobee.org.ng. The contestant is prompted to click PLAY to start the preliminaries. At the click of PLAY button, the contestant will hear the first word to be spelt. The contestant shall have 13 seconds to spell every word and shall take a total of 30 spellings. A contestant is required to spell a minimum of 20 words correctly to qualify for participation in the regionals. The contestant may stop spelling when s/he has spelt 20 words correctly, or may continue if desired. During the prelimiaries, a contestant is allowed two rounds to play to qualify after which the contestant is required to pay the sum of one thousand naira only to try again for two more rounds, if the contestant fails to qualify during the first two rounds.

The Regionals

Contestants who passed the preliminaries are grouped based on their geo-political regions of origin. The regionals will take place online. During the regionals, a contestant is allowed two attempts to play to qualify, after which the contestant must pay the sum one thousand naira only to try again for two more rounds if the contestant fails to qualify during the first two rounds.

The Finals

The finals will take place in the University of Benin in Benin City on Saturday, May 7th, 2022. Contestants are required to arrive at the university on Friday, May 6th, and depart on Sunday, May 8th, 2022. There will be 54 finalists based on nine contestants from each of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
There will be no more than three rounds at the finals. In every round of the finals, a contestant qualifies for the next round if he/she spells a word correctly onstage at the microphone within 15 seconds. A contestant is eliminated if he/she gives a wrong spelling or if he/she fails to spell his/her given word within 15 seconds

Co-champions and Runners-up

If two or more spellers obtain the same score in a tiebreaker, they are declared co-champions. The speller whose total number of points stands in the next places from the Champion's is declared the 1st Runner-up, 2nd Runner-up, 3rd Runner-up and 4th Runner-up respectively. If the spellers in the next places from the Champion's score the same point, they are declared co-runners-up.

Time Allowed

Every contestant is allowed 15 seconds to spell a word correctly in the Grand Finale. Once the Bee Master (the pronouncer) pronounces the word, after stating its meaning, spelling time starts counting down. The contestant may request the pronouncer to repeat the pronunciation of the word, repeat its meaning or give its origin. During this time, spelling time keeps counting down. If the pronouncer obliges, time allowed continues to count down.

The Bee Master's List

The Bee Master's List is a list of words taken from the spelling list of 10,000 words. All the words to be spelt at the finals are contained in this list. While the the word list of ten thousand words and Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary by Daniel Jones are the primary sources of the words in this list, Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary is the final authority and ultimate source of words through all stages of the contest. This Bee Master's list is issued to the spellers only at the end of bee. Only the Bee Master has prior knowledge of the words in the list before the time of the finals.

Role of the Bee Master

The Bee Master is the pronouncer of words during the bee following the standard of Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary. The Bee Master also provides further information such as the meaning, usage or origin of the given word during the bee. He or she declares the winner of the bee as the Metro Bee Champion.

The Panel of Judges

The Panel of Judges is a panel of three members one of which is an expert in English or Linguistics. The judges monitor the event procedures to ensure the rules are not violated. They listen carefully to both the Bee Master and the spellers and determine whether a word has been correctly pronounced and spelt or not. In any case of objection by a contestant, they alone give a verdict on the matter. The judges' decisions are final.