NEW YORK – The annual Direct Archdiocesan District Spelling Bee Competition will be held under the auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010, 10:30 a.m., at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Headquarters (8 East 79 Street, NYC). Competing will be the school bee champions of the Greek American parochial day schools in New York City. Archbishop Demetrios will present all bee champions with a “Certificate of Award” and a silver cross.

For the second consecutive year, the Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund (HTSF) will sponsor the Spelling Bee Competition for the schools of the Direct Archdiocesan District.  HTSF was founded in 1989 by Nick Katsoris along with John and Margo Catsimatidis. Since then, it has awarded over 700 scholarships to young students worth over $2 million dollars.

Mr. Nick Katsoris, president of HTSF, who also serves as General Counsel for the Red Apple Group and has authored the Loukoumi Book Series for young children, will offer to each of the school bees $100 and to the District’s finalist $500.

The Spelling Bee Competitions are sponsored by The E.W. Scripps Company, in conjunction with over 260 newspapers around the world, in order to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabulary, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives. The competitions are open to boys and girls, in grades 5 through 8, who did not reach their 16th birthday on or before May 2010.  

The DAILY NEWS is sponsoring competitions for the public and nonpublic schools in New York City. The Direct Archdiocesan District Office of Education coordinates the Spelling Bee Competition for the area parochial day schools.

For more information about the spelling bee competitions, please visit www.spellingbee.com.