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EXCLUSIVESpelling Bee

UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL PUB DATE FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER
Photo: Elsie Chittleborough (12), Prime Minister's Spelling Bee champion. SA's Elsie Chittleborough of Torrensville Primary School is the state's first ever national champion title in the PM's Spelling Bee after claiming the Orange level (Years 5-6) of Kids News' national spelling challenge, following a record-breaking 82,000 student registrations. Kids News and the Bee are key pillars in the News in the Community program led by Penny Fowler. Picture: Tim Joy. 16th September 2025

Bee spelling success pretty sweet

Back-to-back victories and a breakthrough win for South Australia have marked the fifth anniversary of Australia’s premier student spelling competition. FULL HONOUR ROLL

VIDEONews

Jennifer Hunt, 15, and her golden retriever Bella before they both embark on a record-breaking flight around Australia from Darwin, Friday, September 9, 2025. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Teen pilot and puppy take off

While most 15-year-olds are in school, Australia’s youngest female pilot and her puppy are set to make history attempting to become the youngest team to fly around our country’s vast coastline

THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB (L to R) SHAY RUDOLPH as STACEY MCGILL and MOMONA TAMADA as CLAUDIA KISHI in episode 207 of THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB Cr. KAILEY SCHWERMAN/NETFLIX © 2021

Meet Gen Alpha money-makers

Gen Alpha is the new breed of Australian entrepreneur, already nipping at the heels of Gen Z and Millennials – so how are kids and teens smashing the avocado crowd and making real money?

KIDS NEWS 2025: Reuters Connect video and screengrab asset restricted use - licensing agreement covers Kids News only, please do not use.
A polite Sri Lankan elephant appeared to wave thanks to a safari group that gave way to the herd when their vehicle came across the elephants crossing the road. Picture: screengrab/Newsflare via Reuters Connect

Elephant appears to wave thanks

Safari-goers in Sri Lanka have captured the heartwarming moment an elephant seems to wave ‘thank you’ as its herd crosses their path – do you think that’s what happened? Take our poll

VIDEOFirst Nations News

KIDS NEWS 2025: Indigenous Literacy Fund (ILF) celebrates Indigenous Literacy Day on Wednesday 3 September. Students from Katherine High School in the Northern Territory have written a bilingual book with Gregg Dreise called Grinch det K’Taun Krok! (Grinch the K-Town Croc!), published by the ILF. Picture: ILF/supplied

ILD: Celebrating strength in stories

Young Indigenous authors have travelled from their remote community to Sydney Opera House this Indigenous Literacy Day, to share their unique bilingual tale about a quacking crocodile

Why pranking could be good for the soul (without going too far). Lifestyle and playful photos of Emily, her husband and their two kids in the yard with pranking props (rubber snakes/spiders). Colourful and casual clothing, eyes to camera shots for SMARTdaily cover photo. Cassie, 10, and Jake, 8, in their room. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Why pranks can be good for you

Playing tricks can relieve stress and raise a smile – and kids who share their funniest prank could end up with a character named after them in the next Funny Kid book!

This handout photo courtesy of Sothebyâs shows the black high-top Yeezys worn by rapper Kanye West during the 2008 Grammy Awards. - A pair of Nike Air Yeezy 1s worn by rapper Kanye West sold for $1.8 million, triple the previous record for sneakers, Sotheby's said April 26, 2021, as the market for rare sports shoes soars. (Photo by Handout / SOTHEBY'S / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT

Kanye West’s sneakers sell for record $1.8 million

Kanye West’s Nike Air Yeezy sneakers have smashed the record sale price previously set by a pair of Air Jordans

Hawk Hodkinson, 13, ran 7km to get to his football game with Highett Football Club after his coach forgot to pick him up. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Hawk’s in the running for best teammate

Junior footballer Hawk Hodkinson was so determined not to let his team down he ran 7.5km to his match after his coach forgot to pick him up

Image of Aussie teen YouTube star ReeKid. Supplied for Jonathan Moran.

What it takes to be a YouTube star

So, you want to be a famous YouTuber? Aussie teen ‘Reekid’ reveals how he did it, and the down side to his success

SMART: PM'S SPELLING BEE. Akash Vukoti , now 11, made history as the youngest ever competitor in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US and has thrown his support behind the Prime Minister's Spelling Bee in Australia.
A child prodigy inducted into American Mensa aged three, he has since become a household name in the US, with TV appearances including Dancing with the Stars and Little Big Shots. Akash has over 250,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. Akash is pictured at home in Texas. Picture: supplied.

Super speller backs PM’s Spelling Bee

US spelling whiz and YouTube star Akash Vukoti has some advice for students sitting the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee from today and those still planning to sign up before registrations close on March 24

EXPLAINERExplainers

ItÃ•s the year of the Ox and with the Chinese New Year approaching, Lion Dancers are doing their thing in Chinatown. 5 February 2021. Picture Dean Martin

Dancers - Raymond Nguyen (guy on right with Lion head), Long Taing (guy with glasses with lion head), Dung Huynh (ail on left ) and Dean Coleman (tail on right )

Welcome to the Year of the Ox

Millions — perhaps billions — of people around the world are preparing for a very important annual celebration — Chinese or Lunar New Year. Here’s what you need to know to join the fun

Mark Knight cartoon for Monday 8th February 2021 Herald Sun Newspaper .

When a wombat on the tennis court is normal

In a world turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic, we have to expect the unexpected, even when the unexpected comes in the form of Ash Barty’s wooden wombat tennis trophy

Cover image for Code Name Bananas by David Walliams. Picture: Harper Collins

Saving the day with a gorilla named Gertrude

David Walliams introduces Code Name Bananas, in which an orphaned boy named Eric makes friends with a gorilla named Gertrude and they save the day! With activity sheets to download

CORRECTS CREDIT TO ADDISON DOTY - This undated photo provided by Forrest Fenn shows a chest purported to contain gold dust, hundreds of rare gold coins, gold nuggets and other artifacts. For more than a decade, the 82-year-old claims he has packed and repacked the treasure chest, before burying it in the mountains somewhere north of Santa Fe. (AP Photo/Addison Doty)

Student solves poem clues, finds treasure chest

The identity has been revealed of the person who solved clues written into a poem, then found a famous gold-filled treasure chest hidden more than a decade ago in the wilds of Wyoming

Mark Knight's Christmas cartoon. Picture: Mark Knight

Peace and goodwill enduring themes of Christmas

Mark Knight wonders how Santa’s operations might look in the 21st century with social media, job cuts, mass manufacturing and low-cost couriers. At least we can still aim for peace and goodwill

An handout picture taken in November 2020 and released by www.ziarpiatraneamt.ro on December 1, 2020 shows a metal pillar on Batca Doamnei hill in Piatra Neamt, Romania. - A metal monolith which mysteriously appeared on a hilltop in northern Romania has sparked curiosity -- and mockery -- online, coming just days after a similar object was found in the Utah desert. (Photo by Handout / www.ziarpiatraneamt.ro / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT

Shiny metal thing disappears, another appears

Another mysterious triangular metal pillar has been found next to an ancient fortress in the city of Piatra Neamt, Romania, days after one vanished without a trace in the desert in Utah, US

Pictured in Cronulla is a socially distanced Santa with local girl Edie Docherty (7).
Children have had their minds eased knowing that Santa will go about his Christmas 2020 duties in a socially distanced fashion.
Picture: Richard Dobson

Santa gets special permission to travel at Christmas

The coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt travel around the world but the Prime Minister has confirmed that no matter what happens to Australia’s borders Santa will be able to do his job

TOPSHOT - This video grab image obtained November 24, 2020 courtesy of the Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau shows a mysterious metal monolith that was discovered in Utah after public safety officers spotted the object while conducting a routine wildlife mission. - On November 18, 2020, the Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau was working with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to conduct a count of big horn sheep in a portion of southeastern Utah. While on this mission, they spotted an unusual object and landed nearby to investigate further.The crew members found a metal monolith installed in the ground in a remote area of red rock.The crew said there was no obvious indication of who might have put the monolith there. (Photo by Handout / Utah Department of Public Safety / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT

Mystery shiny metal thing appears in desert

Deep in the remote, Mars-like landscape of Utah’s red-rock desert in the US, a helicopter crew counting sheep stumbled on a mystery: A giant, gleaming metal thing embedded in rock

mark Knight cartoon on Victorians being able to stop wearing masks

Unmasked! Aussies’ great effort in the pandemic

With his relaxation on wearing masks outdoors it seems Premier Dan has saved Victorians yet again, this time not from coronavirus but from weird facial tanning outcomes

Bundaberg features on a new Monopoly board game which also comes in puzzle form.

Australian towns star in Monopoly special edition

Instead of famous streets in far-off London, a new Monopoly board features 22 Australian towns and regions to raise funds for communities impacted by bushfires, floods and COVID-19

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