Spellers walk onstage at the start of the second round of the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee competition May 30 in National Harbor, Md (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
OXON HILL, Md. (WUSA/AP) - The 85th National Spelling Bee is under way and the youngest speller ever made it past her first word.
Six-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Va. spelled "dirigible" correctly on Wednesday morning during the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She is among 278 participants who won local and regional spelling bees to make it to the national bee.
Each participant gets to spell two words during Wednesday's preliminary rounds. Their scores will be combined with scores from a 50-word computer test to determine the field of no more than 50 semifinalists.