NASPA Joins WESPA

On behalf of the Executive Committee, I am happy to announce that NASPA has become a member of WESPA (World English-Language Scrabble Players Association). We have now joined the likes of the United Kingdom, Australia, Tel Aviv, Malaysia, and South Africa in pledging our united interest to promote English-language Scrabble as a serious competitive endeavour, and to support English-language Scrabble players throughout the world as the need arises.

The decision to join WESPA was only made after consultation with, and approval by, the Steering Committee meeting at the National SCRABBLE Championship in August 2009, and with Hasbro’s approval a few weeks later. All recognized the importance of giving a voice to our North American players when they compete internationally, and to represent North American players' needs on the world stage. The cost for membership is $150 per year.

It is imperative to understand that this is not an endorsement of the Collins word list. I repeat, joining WESPA is not the first step in a not-so-subtle plot to eventually merge our dictionaries. NASPA has no plans, right now or in the foreseeable future, to adopt Collins. Should this become a contentious issue from WESPA’s side of things, NASPA can always choose to revoke its membership.

Any questions regarding this can be addressed to me, your new NASPA spokesperson, or to Tony Leah or to Sam Kantimathi, who are the points of contact in Canada and the U.S., respectively. Our email addresses can be found at our respective contact pages.

Robin Daniel

October 8, 2009