Media Coverage

Turning letters into triumph at Scrabble marathon
September 2014

Hasham Hadi Khan Set New World Record In Sri Lanka.
Hasham Hadi Khan from Pakistan Broke the World record for the Highest Score ever made in a Game at the 6th Sri Lankan Open International Scrabble Championship
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August 2014

DAWN NEWS: Waseem Gives Richards Early Jitters At Colombo Scrabble Festival
August 2014

Team Pakistan For WYSC 2014
DAWN NEWS: Scrabble Squad Named
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE: Scrabble Squad to Depart for Sri Lanka
August 2014

Scrabble expert Allan Simmons: 'We're not adding words like 'chillax' and 'po' to the players' dictionary for the sake of it'
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August 2014

Colombo Scrabble Festival
The Colombo Scrabble Festival will take place from Agust 22nd to 31st
Colombo Scrabble Festival
August 2014

So you want to be a professional Scrabble player?
Humorous video on what it's really like becoming a 'professional' Scrabble player, from the perspective of a tournament newcomer and a more seasoned player:
So you want to be a professional Scrabble player?
Oct 2011

A G Thing
Author of the popular Scrabble book Word Freak gives his take on what really happened behind the alleged cheating scandal at the 2011 World Scrabble Championships:
Scrabble cheating scandal: Did a player really get strip-searched for a stolen tile?
Oct 2011

Youth to the fore
Former world youth champion Toh Weibin has taken out the 2011 Astar Scrabble challenge for international youth. Read Youth Committee chair Karen Richards's story published in The (Malaysia) Star Online:
The Star Online — Youths to the fore in scrabble contest
Feb 2011

Thanks to Kim Rubina, of the Philippines, for uploading to YouTube this three-part souvenir video of the 5th WYSC in Manila:
Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFgsbuqi7Q
Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPf2yeJszp0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
Part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXOaUVpWAQ&feature=BF&list=ULT-iLDh4V-v0&index=4
Feb 2011

Smiles for Northern Ireland, WSC for Poland
In Belfast they knew about the venue for WSC 2011 long before the official announcement from Mattel:
Belfast Telegraph — Word that spelt disaster for world's top Scrabble player - tremelo[sic]
30 Jan 2011

Tournament of Champions
This is how You Tube reported Michael Tang's champion-of-champions tournament, boasting the strongest field ever assembled:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HR7fXpclU4
Dec 2010

A gender mind-bender
The UK National Championships, though not an international event, grabs headlines because of Mikki Nicholson's win over Mark Nyman in the best-of-five final. It's not so much Nyman's status as a former world champion and multiple UK champ that fascinates the media so much as Nicholson's gender status.
  BBC News — Scrabble championship won by colourful Mikki Nicholson
  Thaindian News — Mikki Nicholson spells success in UK Scrabble championship
  pattaydailynews.com — Hyper-Literate Lady-Boy Wins UK Scrabble Championship
  Keighley News — Internet fan wins Scrabble title
  Digital Journal — Cumbrian woman wins UK Scrabble championship
  News & Star — Carlisle man aiming for Scrabble world championships glory

Storm in a tile bag
In media coverage terms, the biggest Scrabble story of 2010 around the world was something completely irrelevant to tournament players. Mattel announced it had "changed the rules", and the media went into a frenzy. In fact, all the Scrabble owners did was add a note to the box-set rules that you could now use proper nouns (names) and modern slang words. Then it changed the packaging and the name. Unlike the supposedly hard-bitten, sceptical journos, WESPA wasn't fooled by Mattel's cynical attempt to sell new sets to an already saturated market.

This is how the media reported this storm in a tile bag:
  BBC News — Proper nouns come into play in Scrabble rule change
  msnbc.com — Gasp! First new Scrabble rules since 1948?
  Salon — Scrabble's "rule change" gives purists the vapors
  ABC News — War of words over Scrabble rule change
  The Washington Times — Rule change in Scrabble prompts purists' ire
  TVNZ — Scrabble rule change to allow proper names
  Slate — Don't Panic: Proper Nouns Will Not Be Allowed in Scrabble
  The Washington Post — U.S. players react to news that new Scrabble version will allow proper nouns
  fredericksburg.com — Rule wrangle is a Scrabble-rouser

Scrabble Liberian-style
Spotted by Albert Hahn (Can) is this You Tube video footage of a TV show on Liberia, featuring two minutes at a Scrabble club. Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZOeHrvxHKA.

The Nigel enigma
Nigel Richards makes the cover feature in New Zealand's Sunday Star-Times, even though the journalist didn't actually speak to the man in person. Sunday Star Times — A way with words