Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/List of Scripps National Spelling Bee champions

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured list nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured list candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The list was promoted 13:13, 24 March 2008.

List of Scripps National Spelling Bee champions[edit]

Self nom I think this list meets all the criteria, and is of a simliar standard and style to List of winners of the Mathcounts competition which was recently passed as featured. One issue that I can't solve yet is that the names aren't sorted by surname, because {{sortname}} insists on adding a non-removable wikilink. An alternative template is being worked on and will be added when it's up and running. All comments appreciated, and will be addressed. -- Matthew | talk | Contribs 03:59, 13 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved stuff from The Rambling Man (talk) 14:10, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comments
    • Have you considered just using the {{sort}} template instead of the {{sortname}} for surname sorting? Seems to work, I've had a fiddle with the first table...
      • I tried, but I didn't know how to work it. It's my first sortable list. Now I see what you've done, I'll add it in to the other tables.  Done
    • You've used [4] everywhere, why not just make it a "general" reference?
      •  Done
    • Force column widths to be the same for each table so they have a uniform appearance.
      •  Done
    • Only three sponsors do not have articles. Any chance of making them or are they non-notable?
      • I think they're non-notable. The first one is an old newspaper, and has either been merged into a newer paper, or just stopped printing. I can't find any real mention of it on the internet, other than pages about the Bee. The second one is of a Jamaican company, again - nothing on the internet would to me make it seem notable. The last one, a newspaper again, is still in print but has no article. I guess I could create a stub for that one.
    • "America " - unusual, normally something like "in the United States.."
      •  Done
    • "In 1943, 1944 and 1945, the competition was cancelled due to World War II. " - nope, more like "The competition was cancelled from 1943 to 1945 due to World War II."
      •  Done
    • There doesn't seem to a link to spelling bee at all.
      •  Done
    • Caption is a fragment so doesn't need a full stop.
      •  Done
    • Puerto Rican is a dab link and why is it used when Jamaican is not linked?
      •  Done Puerto Rican should have been linked to [Puerto Rican People]], but there is no demonym article for Jamaican, so for consistency neither are linked.
    • " different city or even state than which " usually we say "different from"
      •  Done
    • "fourty-three" - forty-three (or 43)...
      •  Done - I always make that mistake.
    • "fourty" - forty, or 40.
      •  Done
    • Do you note the non-US winners?
      • In what sort of way? Naming them in the lead? Shading the cells? -- Matthew | talk | Contribs 20:28, 15 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • While you're editing, the three links to specific bees are redirects...
      •  Done
  • That's about it for now... The Rambling Man (talk) 10:11, 15 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • All comments are addressed now. Thanks for the review and of course, if you find anything extra, let me know. -- Matthew | talk | Contribs 20:41, 15 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support my concerns addressed, but just one thing, not sure you need spelling bee in the See also section, but it's not a big deal. If it stays, at least capitalise the S of spelling! Good work. The Rambling Man (talk) 14:10, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I also think that spelling bee should be removed from the See also section. --Orlady (talk) 19:04, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
 Done -- Matthew | talk | Contribs 20:33, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comments:
    • I'm not convinced that a speller from Puerto Rico is truly "non-American." Could that locution be changed to something like "from outside the 5O U.S. states"?
      • How about one-and-a-half non Americans? :) J/K!  Done
    • Since I happen to live in a community that has bragged about the fact that three local kids have won this competition, I took note of the fact that the winning spellers are identified only by the geographic location of their sponsor and not also the location of the child's school or hometown. I realize that acquiring this information is more difficult than getting the information about the sponsor, and I would not object to making this a featured list on the basis of its exclusion. However, I think this information is obtainable (in many cases, it's included in references already cited) and I'd like to see it added to the article over time. (For the record, the local winners I am aware of are Henry Feldman, 1960, Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Glen Van Slyke III, 1963, Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Ned G. Andrews, 1994, Oliver Springs, Tennessee.)
--Orlady (talk) 19:04, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I would like to have included that but for those winners who's only reference I can find is that on the official site's winner's list, it's not possible. And that would mean a bunch of missing information. -- Matthew | talk | Contribs 20:32, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for explaining your views of the situation. --Orlady (talk) 21:35, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Another comment: According to this article, in the early 1930s the spelling bee had separate "boy champions" and "girl champions". Have you run across that information in any other sources? --Orlady (talk) 19:10, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • Huh.. I haven't come across anything else saying that, and even the official website's list of winners (ref 4 in the article) doesn't show that. I just did a quick google search and found nothing else, maybe I typed the wrong search parameters, so I'll have a look around again later. -- Matthew | talk | Contribs 20:32, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
      • That's OK. The source where I found that was the National Review, which is not a particularly reliable source on spelling bees. If you haven't run into that elsewhere, it's reasonable to conclude it's not true. --Orlady (talk) 21:35, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. A nice piece of work. --Orlady (talk) 21:35, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Support with comments(Now addressed, see below).

Resolved stuff by PeterSymonds (talk · contribs)

I have a few items that may or may not be helpful:

  • Is the whole first paragraph covered by the first citation?
    • Yes
  • "Every speller in the competition has previously participated in a local spelling bee, usually organized by a local newspaper. Because of the coverage area newspapers reach, some newspapers have sponsored spellers from a different city or even state from which the newspaper is based." Needs a citation.
    • Ugh! I found it somewhere.. It'll take me a couple of hours to find it again!
      • OK, I ca't find it anywhere, and I can't remember what particular words were used to use as search parameters. So I've <!-- hidden -- it until it can be found. -- Matthew | talk | Contribs 02:38, 18 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The National Spelling Bee is primarily an oral competition conducted in elimination rounds until only one speller remains. The first round consists of a 25-word written test, the remaining rounds are oral spelling tests. The competition has been declared a tie three times, in 1950, 1957 and 1962. As of 2007, forty-three champions have been girls, and forty have been boys."
    • I'm sorry, but you haven't put your issue with this!
      • Hehe, sorry about that! My mistake.
  • There are references missing from some boxes but I assume it's okay. It just looked a little odd. Is it because the reference before covered it? I'm unfamiliar with list referencing, as you may've guessed. :)
    • Reference [4] covers every winner, and it was in each row. It was then removed per TRM's review and placed in the table headers instead.
  • Reference 55 is missing a publisher.
    •  Done

Otherwise, I found it fascinating! Congrats to all involved. PeterSymonds | talk 20:34, 17 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

PeterSymonds | talk 16:53, 18 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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