The competition in the Northern province was rescheduled and although one expected the competitors to be unsettled, they were very much upbeat. The change had given them more time to prepare for what seemed a really competitive stage of the competition. 228 students from the province had qualified for the quarter finals and three competitions were conducted at St Patrick's College, Jaffna to select 32 spellers who would move into the semi finals, where 250 top spellers from the country would be competing for the title of the Spellmaster.

The all island schools spelling competition "Spellmaster" which is now one of the most popular edutainment programmes among all ages has seen children from all walks of life facing the competition with great enthusiasm and determination. The build up to the competition has been great and although it has proved to be a bit stressful at times students admit that it is highly productive and enjoyable.

The northerners from the inception have impressed. Last year, one student from the Northern Province made it to the Top 20, Sivapalan Chelvaniththilan from St.Patrick's College Jaffna who went on to become the 3rd runner-up. This year St.Patrick's College had 12 contestants qualifying to the quarter finals, from which 3 contestants qualified to the Semi Finals and naturally are trying to continue the good work of Sivapalan.

This year, a majority of the schools did extremely well, where more than 10 students out of the 20 who sat for the preliminary round dictation test qualified for the quarter finals. From the Jaffna District, Chundikuli Girls' College did extremely well with all 20 contestants sitting for the dictation test qualifying for the quarter finals of which 6 got through to the semi finals. Right behind them was Vavuniya Tamil Madhya Maha Vidyalayam and Vembadi Girls' High School Jaffna who had 18 students getting through to the quarter finals. Other schools were St.Xavier's Boys' College Mannar, St.Xavier's Girls' College Mannar, Hartley College Jaffna, Holy Family Convent Jaffna, Methodist Girls' High School Jaffna, Nelliady Madhya Maha Vidyalayam Karaveddy, Vadamaradchy Central Ladies' College Karaveddy, St.John's College Jaffna, and Uduvil Girls' College Chunnakam.

The contestants from the Northern Province were geared and ready to battle it out for the 32 seats remaining to the semi finals which are to be held in Colombo. Every student who came in could be seen with a dictionary in hand constantly referring for new words or having mini competitions amongst the friends present in the hope of facing the panel with confidence.