The 2024 Alabama State Spelling Bee, hosted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will feature 52 fourth through eighth grade students from across Alabama.

The state spelling bee is sponsored by the Alabama Kiwanis Foundation, and supported by Scripps. It is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 16 in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences University Hall auditorium, will feature pronouncers Janet Keys and John Hubbard, and judges Douglas Ragland, Sandra Harrell, and Ernest Hulsey. The bee begins at noon.

The winner will represent the state at the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, scheduled for May 26-June 1. The broadcast schedule will be announced in May.

Stephen Briscoe, an eighth-grade student at Hanceville Middle School, was last year’s Alabama Spelling Bee winner. Stephen, 14, correctly spelled “schnell” to win the title, during the finals of the competition held March 18, 2023, at UAB.

First place winners will earn $50,000 first prize, a medal, and the Scripps Cup. If a tie occurs, both students will win $50,000.

Erin Howard, a 14-year-old student from Alabama, won the 2019 National Spelling Bee, marking the first time the competition recognized more than a two-way tie since 1925, and the only other Alabama speller to have won the Scripps National Spelling Bee.