World’s Largest Digital Reading Platform Epic Announced as Official Reading Partner to the Scripps National Spelling Bee

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct 04, 2023 08:00 AM – (BUSINESS WIRE)--Epic, the world’s largest digital reading platform for kids, announced today a new partnership with the world-famous Scripps National Spelling Bee to further support its two million teachers and 60 million student subscribers. The partnership represents both companies' commitment to promote the strong connection between spelling and reading.

When schools enroll in the Bee’s yearlong program, they will receive access to Epic’s newest platform offering, Epic School Plus, at a discounted rate. This new product allows teachers the chance to provide their students with 24-hour access to the platform of over 40,000 books, seven days a week, year-round. In a recent poll conducted by Epic in September 2023, 92% of Epic educators feel like regular reading improves their students’ spelling skills and over half liked the idea of an Epic partnership with the Bee, with one teacher in the survey remarking that this partnership is a way to help students with their spelling abilities.

"We are excited about the collaboration with the famed Scripps National Spelling Bee to nurture and promote a deep affection for reading," said Kevin Donahue, co-founder of Epic. "We recognize that reading is a catalyst for growth across various academic areas and we are excited about our role in championing spelling skills."

As the Bee’s official reading partner, Epic will provide:

• For schools: Discounted pricing for Epic School Plus, Epic’s newest offering. Epic school subscribers will also have special access to a partner code to extend the early registration rate throughout the Bee’s entire enrollment period.
• For families at enrolled schools: A seven-day free trial for Epic with a 25% discount on an annual subscription
• For school bee champions: A 30-day free trial for Epic Family
• For regional spelling bee champions: A free one-year subscription to Epic Family

“We hear from so many spellers in the Bee’s program that reading was the spark for their love of language and spelling,” said Corrie Loeffler, executive director of the Bee. “The Bee’s partnership with Epic is a natural way we can catalyze that connection between reading and spelling, while giving educators easy access to tools that will support their students’ exploration and love of learning.”

Tynker, a renowned program to learn coding, has also joined the 2024 Bee program as its official coding partner to help kids enhance their critical thinking and pattern recognition skills through coding. This partnership is creating several opportunities:

• For families at enrolled schools: Access to Buzzing Bee, a free 60-minute Bee-themed live 1-on-1 online coding class during which they will create a fun, word-based game that showcases their spelling skills and a 30-day trial of a Tynker home plan with a 40% discount on an annual subscription
• For school champions: A microcourse of four live, 1-on-1 coding classes on Tynker
• For regional spelling bee champions:A free one-year subscription for a Tynker home plan and a custom micro-course of eight live, 1-on-1 coding classes on Tynker

Both brands will be onsite at the Bee’s national competition over Memorial Day week in National Harbor, Maryland. Their presence will include a meet and greet from writers of Epic Originals and a coding workshop from Tynker.

Additionally, for Computer Science Education Week 2023, Tynker and the Scripps National Spelling Bee have co-developed My Favorite Word, a free art and coding project where elementary and middle school students can showcase definitions and etymologies of their favorite words.

For more information or to sign up your school to participate in the Bee, please visit spellingbee.com/enroll.

About Epic

Designed for unlimited discovery and unmatched safety, Epic is the leading digital reading platform for kids. Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books, audiobooks and videos from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic reaches more than 75 million kids in homes and classrooms and fuels curiosity and reading confidence. Epic has made access free to educators and more than 2 million teachers use it in the classroom. Epic is part of the BYJU'S family of brands, working together to unlock a love of learning around the world. To learn more, visit getepic.com, or follow Epic on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

About Tynker

Tynker is a leading K-12 creative coding platform that empowers children worldwide to develop coding skills for designing animations, games, and a wide range of real-world applications. With a focus on critical thinking and problem-solving, Tynker's acclaimed curriculum is used by 1 in 3 U.S. K-8 schools, 150,000 schools globally, and over 100 million kids across 150 countries. Partners include renowned brands like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and NASA. Accessible on computers and mobile apps, Tynker offers free and paid subscriptions. In 2021, Tynker was acquired by BYJU'S, the world's largest edtech company. For more info, visit www.tynker.com.

About the Scripps National Spelling Bee

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the nation’s largest and longest-running educational program, having launched in 1925. By inspiring the exploration of words, the Scripps National Spelling Bee illuminates pathways to lifelong curiosity, celebrates academic achievement and enriches communities. Visit spellingbee.com for more information about the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which is administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP).

Contact

Kiki Burger
Epic
kiki@getepic.com