How do you spell “winning”? The Suffolk Education Foundation hopes this year that it’s spelled “B-E-E.”

That’s because the nonprofit support organization for Suffolk Public Schools plans what it hopes will be a major fundraiser — and an evening of fun and laughs — in May, as it hosts the city’s first Grown-Up Spelling Bee.

Notwithstanding any typographical errors that might have made their way to print in this or other editions of the Suffolk News-Herald (and, yes, we know it happens — more often than we’d like to admit), we think we’ve got a pretty good team, and we want to challenge you and a couple of your friends to take us on.

As the “Queen Bee” sponsor for the event, which is set for May 14 at King’s Fork High School, we’re extremely excited about the opportunity to support the foundation’s efforts to raise money for teachers’ projects, student scholarships and more. And we can’t wait to prove we can spell antidisestablishmentarianism and syzygy and maybe even some of the words we’d actually use in this newspaper.

The Suffolk event is being designed as a fun alternative to the nail-biting version that requires 12-year-olds to memorize the dictionary each year, and we’re glad for that. Three-person teams will get the chance to confer on the spellings of words. They can also pay to pass over a word, get a second chance or sting an opponent with a difficult word. There will be silly team names and, perhaps, even costumes.

The organization aims to get 10 school teams and 10 non-school teams, from local businesses or other organizations. So far, three teams have registered to participate. We’d love to face a team from the city’s administration, along with some of our advertisers and readers. But we’re not choosy, and we’d like to win, so we’re also encouraging non-English speaking teams and math majors to join the fun, too.

There’s still time to register teams, and there’s still time to join up as sponsors. The foundation could use support on both fronts.

Deadlines are coming up for sponsorships and team sign-ups, so don’t wait around and “bee” disappointed. Visit www.suffolkeducationfoundation.org for more information on the Grown-Up Spelling Bee.