From a media release:

ACTION, SPEED AND SPLIT-SECOND DECISIONS UNDER PRESSURE – SPELLING NIGHT IN CANADA RETURNS TO CBC!

• Twenty-one bright minds compete for the crown of Canada’s best speller Sunday, April 1 at 7 p.m. (7:30 NT)

They’ve worked hard to get here, and they are about to battle against the best of their peers at the biggest competition of the year. This is not the NHL Playoffs, this is Postmedia Canspell 2012: Spelling Night in Canada – a one-hour prime-time event that will celebrate excellence in our young people and keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Spelling Night in Canada airs Sunday, April 1 at 7 p.m. (7:30 NT) on CBC Television.

Open to students from Grade 4 to Grade 8, the 8th annual Postmedia Canspell competition began when a quarter of a million young Canadians took part in school spelling bees in January. From there, 21 finalists from schools across the country are squaring off for Spelling Night in Canada.

CBC Radio host Brent Bambury (Day 6) will join returning host and hockey broadcasting veteran Jim Hughson of CBC’S HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA along with colour commentary from renowned expert Paul Loeffler (Scripps National Spelling Bee). Spelling Night in Canada takes the spelling bee format to the next level – with a fast-paced game-show style, celebrity hosts and commentators. CBC Books is partnering with Canspell 2012 to provide editorial content for the competitors.

New to this year’s broadcast, the audience will have the chance to play along to find out if they can spell better than an eighth grader. To engage live, viewers can log into their Twitter accounts, listen to the words on television and reply to @SpellingNight with the correct spelling of the word. The person who spells the most words correctly during the course of the broadcast will win a prize. Players will also be able to see how many words they spelled correctly, and how they measure up against the rest of Canada.

Similarly on Facebook, leading up to the Spelling Night in Canada broadcast, over a thousand of the real words that are used in the competition will be released. Users are encouraged to play the Facebook Spelling Game to find out how many words they are able to spell correctly, while challenging friends to compete. Each round will generate a new set of 10 words, so competitors can keep learning and improving as they play.

The winning super-speller will receive a $7,500 education award, courtesy of Egg Farmers of Canada. The second and third place spellers will receive $5,000 and $2,500 respectively, also courtesy EFC. All three top spellers will go to represent Canada and their hometowns internationally at the renowned Scripps Bee in Washington, D.C. in June.

The 8th annual Postmedia Canspell National Spelling Bee Final takes place on Wednesday, March 28 at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in downtown Toronto where it will be taped in front of a live studio audience. Canadians can witness the edge-of-your-seat competition by tuning into Spelling Night in Canada on April 1 at 7 p.m. (7:30 NT).