GALENA PARK ISD — Galena Park ISD held a Spanish-language elementary spelling bee during which students advanced through multiple elimination rounds and organizers named district representatives for Region 4.

Organizers said contestants could ask the pronouncer once to repeat a word, provide a definition or use it in a sentence, and could write the word on a board provided to help visualize it before spelling aloud. The contest rules gave a five-minute time limit for each attempt, and judges were designated as the official authority whose decisions would be final except in cases of “error grave.” When two finalists remained, the contest followed a head-to-head rule in which a miss by one finalist could lead to a retest and a potential championship determination if the other finalist then spelt the following words correctly.

The event proceeded in numbered rounds. The pronouncer and event host guided contestants through standard procedures including repeating words on request, pronouncing accents and special characters aloud, and the process for resolving disputed spellings. At one point an announcer summarized the judges’ role: “Los jueces son la autoridad oficial del concurso. Su decisión será inapelable, excepto en casos en que exista un error grave.”

Organizers conducted a final awards ceremony after the rounds. The host said winners would represent the district at Region 4 and identified students and school representatives during the ceremony, including a named representative from The Whittlenakers Elementry and a champion listed as Jesús Paz of McCarthythor. The host also noted that, under the district’s adherence to national competition rules mentioned during the event, only students in fourth and fifth grades are eligible to advance to the regional competition.

The program emphasized bilingual development and thanked parents for attendance despite poor weather. Organizers closed the ceremony with a recognition of student effort and the presentation of awards.