A bit worried about the competition, Emma says she has been learning the list of words the competitors are given to prepare, and continuing to read as normal.
Her current book is John Green's Paper Towns, and she enjoys fantasy and science fiction as well.
"I think reading a lot helps with spelling," she said. "If you see the word enough times you learn."
The competition includes three rounds of words from the prepared list then moves on to unknown words. All have to be spelled aloud, which Emma says is much harder than a written test.
Mum Katherine, a cellist in the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, says she knew her daughter was a good speller, but hadn't considered it as a competitive option until now.
"But Emma's always been interested in words. If you leave a book lying around she will always pick it up," she said.
Competition organiser Janet Lucas, who has run the bee for 11 years, says she too gets nervous for the competitors, but advises them to take their time.
"I always say, it's not a race. But then it's easy for me to say that because I'm not on stage. It can be very tense, very nerve-wracking," she said. "It's very cut-throat. One letter in the wrong place and the bell is rung, and you're out."
Mrs Lucas said while spellers often dreaded the words they didn't know, sometimes they would be so relieved to hear a familiar word they would let their guard down and muck it up.
The competition begins at 1pm at Circa Theatre in Wellington this Saturday.
And if you were wondering - ablutophobia means "a fear of washing". Try to use it in a sentence.
NZ Spelling Bee
•All the words come from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary 12th Edition. They are British-English.
•The bee is for Year 9 and 10 students.
•Playwright Roger Hall is the competition patron.
•Organiser Janet Lucas was inspired to start the competition after watching Spellbound, a movie about a spelling bee.
