More than 500 learners from across the country will take part in the national finals of the 2025 Sanlam WOW Spelling Festival in Stellenbosch in October. This is the largest spelling festival in South Africa and is presented throughout the year in eight provinces and in three languages – Afrikaans, English, and isiXhosa. The national finals will take place on 11 October at Stellenbosch University (SU).
The Sanlam WOW Spelling Festival is the flagship project of Words Open Worlds (WOW), an empowerment initiative through language and cultural projects currently celebrating 21 years at the SU Division for Social Impact & Transformation. Through this multilingual platform, learners can engage with words in a fun and educational way to develop a better understanding of language and ultimately communicate more effectively, explains Fiona van Kerwel, WOW Manager and education expert.
“We help learners to communicate in a clear, creative, and critical manner. When they have to stand up to spell words aloud or sound them out, and ask for a definition or sentence, it builds their confidence and self-assurance. The online spelling tests and language resources are also a great help to educators for preparation, and we work with words from the curriculum of the particular grades.”
Learners participate in the following language categories:
Afrikaans: Grade 1 to 10 (302 participants from 136 schools)
English: Grade 4 to 9 (184 participants from 117 schools)
isiXhosa: Grade 6 to 8 (63 participants from 48 schools)
Words rewards
At the national prize-giving ceremony, the top three spellers in each grade will receive a book prize sponsored by NB Publishers, a cash prize, a medal, a badge, and a mascot. The first-place winner in each grade will also receive a smartphone and a trophy.
Learners had to place in the top four in three rounds to qualify for the national finals: The circuit round, district round, and provincial round. This year, 154 spelling festivals were held across these three rounds: 114 circuit rounds, 32 district rounds, and eight provincial spelling festivals. A total of 2 174 schools registered: 852 for Afrikaans, 1 072 for English, and 250 for isiXhosa.
Registration forms, spelling lists, online spelling tests, programmes and venues, as well as other language resources, can be found at wow.woordfees.co.za/en/.
Let’s spell playfully. Together, we change lives through words.
Read about the work WOW does to empower school communities here .