As the winner of the 2005 Scripps National Spelling Bee, I, Anurag Kashyap, would like to acknowledge the author of this article; It was well written. Also, I would like to offer a few tips for serious orthographers.
1. Paideia is no longer used but is an excellent study resource.
2. Even if you do not make it to the national spelling bee, do not be discouraged; you have still learned a lot if you have diligently studied and if you meet the qualifications/criteria, you are still eligible for next year's bee.
3. If you feel like you can not handle the pressure, close your eyes, and then spell.
4. The amount of time you should spend on spelling each day depends on how serious of a speller you are; if you are competing for the class level, I would recommend about fifteen minutes daily; school level- 45 minutes daily; Sectionals- 2 hours daily; Regionals; 4 hours daily; and the National Spelling Bee: anywhere from 5 to 8 hours a day. I know this sounds like a schedule devoted to spelling, but it is necessary when you are trying to learn a word that passes through French, German, Persian, Sanskrit, Italian, and finally English.
5. You may not eschew extracurricular activities in favor of spelling bee preparation.
6. Before spelling each word, relax, take a deep breath, and then SLOWLY spell the word.
7. In the National Spelling Bee, the words pompier, priscilla, and ornithorhynchous were not of familiarity to me. I deduced the orthography of these words by thinking of roots, related words, and famous people. For example, I owe a lot of gratitude to Priscilla Presley, wife of Elvis Presley, for her existence. For ornithorhynchous, I knew the Greek roots ornitho meaning beak and rhynchos, meaning bird to arrive at the correct spelling of this word, meaning having a beak like that of a bird. Finally, for pompier which is pronounced pom-pi-ay, I remembered the city of Pompeii that was buried under volcanic ash thousands of years ago, which lead me to think of firefighters of course-which took me to pompier meaning a man whose job is to put out accidental fires or those caused deliberately as a criminal act. The bottom line is, use information you have previously encountered in order to spell an unknown word carefully.

Thank you for reading this, I hope it will provide you assistance in any future spelling bee you participate in.

Regards, Anurag Kashyap