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Bob Jackman OAM

Bob Jackman has been prominent in organising, promoting and innovating in Scrabble for many years. He has also played in many tournaments in Australia and overseas. In this year;s Australia Day Honours, he was awarded the Order of Australia medal for service to competitive Scrabble.
Joanne Craig and Bob at the CSIM

The nomination was put forward by Joanne Craig with help from John Holgate and Howard Warner. Joanne Craig spoke at CSIM about how he deserved the award because of his many years as President of ASPA NSW and his work in establishing and supporting clubs. He set up a national OzScrabble mailing list, and had acted as rating officer for Australia and also internationally. He started events such as the City of Sydney International Masters and the Trans Tasman.

Bob has represented Australia in international events, including the World Scrabble Championship. He came runner up in the Pan Pacific Scrabble Championship in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

2025 CSIM

The City of Sydney Masters has been a major event for decades. This year it was hotly contested, with the top spot always in contention right to the end. Josh Watt who has only been playing since 2023, won convincingly.
Josh's final game with Ryan Sutton clinched the title

Prizes were presented down to fifth place. 
1   14  +785 Josh Watt
2   13  +999 Cameron Farlow
3   12 +1313 Andrew Fisher
4   12  +590 Joanne Craig
5   12  +496 Ryan Sutton
Several new records for 2025 were made.
Large game margin 384
Oscar Ivanovski 591 against Anne Hough 207
High drawn game
Greg Pinchbeck 409 against Oscar Ivanovski 409
High combined score 1023
Nick Ivanovski 531 against Asanka Dissanayake 492
High losing score 504
Fadlan Satria 504 against Jane Taylor 514
High play, not bonus: 101
ZATIS byJosh Watt
ZATIS scores 101
ZATIS is 34 × 2, ZE is 31, AS is 2
Long word 11 letters:
REELECTIONS by Bob Jackman
REELECTIONS
RE(E)ELECT + IONS
Many bingos 5
ADDIBLE, OCTANES, UNFROZE, MALAISE, KETAMINE : Noel Barrett
DRONGOS, HELIUMS, BARITES, CATELOGS, ALUNITES : Nick Ivanovski
Long winning streak 9
(6+3) Cameron Farlow at Logan Clovers and CITY OF SYDNEY MASTERS
See 2025 Records
Barry Harridge provided a webshow of full round by round results.
This tournament has been rated by WESPA using the new WESPA rating system. This system has higher ratings generally, and considers the volatilty of each player as measured by their rating deviation. See WESPA rating of CSIM.

Happy New Words

Australian Scrabblers are now using an updated version of Collins Scrabble Words. You can check out our word advice here, including update kits, books, apps and printable lists.
The last tournament of 2024 (Decathon in Victoria) and the first tournament of 2025 (Janboree in NSW) cheerfully started using these new words. Look at these savvy plays.
AVI
AVI (slang) An avatar (profile picture) on a social media platform
BAW
BAW A ball usually found in a pair in a BAWBAG (Scots)
UWU
UWU The emoticon (U ω U) for cuteness
MPox
MPOX Monkey pox, a viral illness
GLAMAZON
GLAMAZON A tall glamorous woman
VAQUITAS
VAQUITA A rather small porpoise from Spanish for little cow

Trans Tasman

Trans Tasman 2024

This is a biennial event between Australia and New Zealand, held every even year since 1996. It was held in New Zealand this year.

Each player plays 24 games of Scrabble over three days in a double team round robin i.e. each of the 12 players from each country plays each of the 12 from the opposing country twice. An intense three days of Scrabble with 288 games in all.

Congratulations to New Zealand who won the event this time 165 to 123, for the first time since 2010. The best player overall was Howard Warner who won 18 of his 24 matches. The top Australian was Russell Honeybun who won 16. A full breakdown is on the NZ Elixs site.

New Zealand did a superb job of streaming one game each round with commentary by several international and Australasian commentators. The streams are still there to watch on Youtube.

Events

Selective events

These events are invitational, based on rating.
2025
Australian Masters
& State Challenge
WESPA Championship
Ghana (November)
World Teams
Ghana (November
World Youth

Nationals 2025

Adelaide
Join us in Adelaide for the Scrabble National Championships. You can now easily register and pay. Please go here for all details.

Townsville

Townsville

Townsville is proud to be hosting both the Australian Women's Scrabble Championship and the Queensland Scrabble Championship in 2025 and they are organising further fun on beautiful Magnetic Island in between.

All tournaments will use CSW24 and be WESPA rated.

Townsville experiences 24 sunny days and an average daily maximum temperature of 26° in August, making it an ideal time to visit.

There are direct flights to Townsville from Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, as well as overnight train trips from the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

The Townsville tournaments will be held in the CBD within walking distance from a range of accommodation and restaurant options.

There is much to see and do in Townsville and around. Make a holiday of it.

Julie Brice can give you further information and advice.

2025 WESPA Championship

The 2025 WESPA Championship will be held at the Alisa Hotel, North Ridge, Accra, Ghana. Australia is entitled to send 14 players in addition to David Eldar who qualifies because he was World Champion. Selection is by ratings over a twelve month period ending May 31 2025. See full details

World Team Scrabble Championship