Finally, a TV show that doesn't just celebrate the "cool kids".

At last: A win for smart kids.

Any former ‘brainy kid’ can tell you how it’s not always easy to be clever in school.

Bookworms and mathletes have always been lumped into the ‘too geeky for words’ pile — leaving popularity to be enjoyed by sporty, pretty types who wouldn’t touch a textbook with a ten-foot pole.

Related: How many words from The Great Australian Spelling Bee can you spell?

But The Great Australian Spelling Bee burst onto television screens last night, and it could be the to change all that. Because not only is the series a victory for Channel 10 (as evidenced by the series’ dominant ratings across the capital cities last night) but it’s a win for clever kids across the country.

Yep, Spelling Bee is all about celebrating the smarts. And that’s simply not something we see on television often enough.

There’s no question the contestants on the show, who competed against 3000 other kids just to make it to last night’s group of 52 spellers, are the seriously brainy type. One of them, eight-year-old Harpith, spelled out his ‘favourite’ 29-letter word (‘floccinaucinihilipilification’) in an interview on The Project. Aw, bless.

Other contestants have lofty career ambitions including archeology and veterinary science, despite being just eight years old.

Yep, as the show’s co-host Grant Denyer told Mamamia, the pint-sized contestants really are “wizards and complete geniuses, the doctors and surgeons and astronauts and politicians of tomorrow”.

Related: The Chrissie Swan advice all parents need.

As co-host Chrissie Swan explains, those kids are ‘celebrated’ on the show in a way they might not be in the schoolyard.

“I love this show because it celebrates smart kids,” she said. “It makes heroes of these little people who aren’t always the super popular kids in school. And it shows children it’s cool to be clever.

“I am so proud to be part of a show that gives children intelligent role models.”

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— Spelling Bee (@SpellingBeeAU) July 31, 2015

Making the show even more inclusive, the super spellers are a fairly even boy-girl split, and hail from a range of backgrounds.

“I kind of expected that a lot of the mums backstage would be the academic version of soccer mums, but that wasn’t the case at all,” Denyer told Mamamia.

“The only common denominator was that… they all seemed to come from really loving homes, just wonderful supportive environments. They didn’t seem to need to come from parents that were academics.”

The super spellers are also culturally diverse. It’s a refreshing change, especially when one reflects on the powerful words of Underbelly star Firass Dirani, who said in 2012:

“When you walk down Sydney streets you see so many different cultures and so many different people. Our TVs haven’t reflected that yet.”

The show’s not just valuable for kids, either. As Denyer told Mamamia the show also encourages parents from all walks of life to become more actively involved in their kids’ learning.

Related content: Why is Australian television so… ‘white’?

“[T]he one thing I learned about the show is, as long as you put just that little bit of time in and guide your child to develop a love of reading, great things can happen,” he said.

“You don’t have to be born with that academic gene. If you just put that little bit of love in, the sky’s the limit.”