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Thanks to Murray Landon and John Baird, instant results from all SNZ tournaments are now available after each round of games finishes, from this link: Elixs Results

Cicely Bruce of Whangārei is NZ’s inaugural Womens’ Scrabble Champion

Cicely Bruce of Whangārei has become New Zealand’s first Women’s Scrabble Champion.  The inaugural tournament, held in Auckland this past weekend drew a field of Grand Masters and experienced players from New Zealand and Australia. Cicely won 15 of her 16 games, ahead of Anderina McLean of Whanganui on 13 games and Joanne Craig, a New Zealander living in Sydney, also on 13 games.
The nail-biting final day was livestreamed with commentary from expert international Scrabble players. Thousands of viewers tuned in from all over the world to share the excitement, including expert players and non-Scrabblers.
Winning the 2026 national women’s title is a great start to the year for Scrabble Grand Master Cicely.  She was also a member of the winning NZ team last year which won the Trans-Tasman Championship from Australia for the first time in 14 years. Cicely is an experienced international player and played in several overseas tournaments last year including the World Seniors Championship in Berlin;  the Continental Championship in Budapest; the Queensland Championship and the Australian Women’s Championship in Townsville.
Reflecting on her win, Cicely says, “I had no expectation of winning when up against top players from New Zealand and Australia. Particularly when also competing was Joanne Craig, a very highly rated player and the current Australian Women’s Champion. However, the stars aligned and the tile gods were kind and I was thrilled to come out on top. I am also very pleased that the inaugural title went to a New Zealander, and I hope to defend it next year.”

The SNZ Inaugural Women’s Champs was held on 10-11 January 2026 and consisted of a Swiss-draw format. Follow the players’ tournament progress on the Elixs link above, and watch the live streaming of some of the games on Day 2 with this link: YouTube

Back L-R: Jena Yousif WRE), Lorraine Van Veen (IND), Cathy Casey (WRE), Su Walker (IND), Tara Hurley (MTA)
Middle L-R: Val Mills (MTA), Jenny Litchfield (WRE) – Tournament Organiser, Joanne Morley (ROT), Frances Higham (IND), Suzanne Liddall (WRE), Merelyn Fuemana (MTA), Jeanette Grimmer (ROD), Betty Ericksen (ROD), Clarita Jarvane (IND)
Front L-R: Joanne Craig (IND), Anderina McLean (WAN), Cicely Bruce (WRE) – Women’s Champ 2026, Jane Taylor (AUS), Carmel Dodd (AUS), Liz Fagerlund (MTA)

Important announcement – at the 2025 AGM, we officially changed our name to Scrabble New Zealand

Mount Albert hosts an inaugural Beginners’ Tournament
Mt. Albert Club held a newbies grade (which attracted 8 beginners) on Sunday, 5 October concurrent with our annual Spring Tournament. It was a big success, thanks to the team effort from many of the club members that helped out in some way. These included:

• Liz Fagerlund, who corresponded with interested members of the public and coordinated the newbies grade and the main tournament
• Julie Atkinson, who did a superb job directing the beginners – teaching them the ins and outs of competitive play along the way
• Alexander Gandar, who designed our lovely ad poster
• Ben Tu’itahi, who contributed funding towards advertising
• Mike Currie, who MC’ed the tournament and introduced all the new players, and treated them to a very in-depth Scrabble poem (with help from Lawson Sue)
• Calum Henderson and George Dodd, who helped out with scoring on Sunday given our scorer on Saturday, Melissa, played in the newbies grade on Sunday
• Chris Tallman provided the prize money for the newbies grade and handled the advertising
  
   
  Left: 1st Place – Melissa McKenna – 5-0, +769 with a 434 average and 5 bonus words! 2nd Place – Jern Siong – 3-2, +322,
  3rd Place – Spencer Woolrich – 3-2, +121, 4th-8th place – Rachel Woodworth, Isabella Ashby, David Wu, Paige Young, Sameen Laiq.
  
  All our beginners seemed to enjoy themselves, and were encouraged to watch our “professional” games when they had time and to interact with us during breaks. Sameen (17) and his brother Aheeb (14) also got some free coaching from our youth stars Cooper and Maheu. We hope to see some of these newbies come back for more, and to do this again some time soon!
  

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The following is a document created by Murray Rogers for the SNZ Youth Scrabble Committee as a reference for the general public, educators, tournament organisers and club players – to help promote youth involvement. Please feel free to share any or all information as appropriate.
Benefits-of-Playing-Scrabble-for-Youth

Check out the widespread public interest in the New Zealand Scrabble scene in Media coverage.
Anyone, regardless of age or ability, can join one of our many friendly NZ Clubs, enjoy playing Scrabble with others, and improve their game. See who has been winning the recent club, independent or national Tournaments.

To contact Scrabble NZ, email playscrabblenz@gmail.com

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of J.W. Spear & Sons, England (a subsidiary of Mattel Inc.) within New Zealand and the rest of the world (except North America).