Lori Anne Madison, six, of Virginia, America, is the youngest participant ever to compete in the preliminary round of the US National Spelling Bee, getting off to a successful start by spelling “dirigible.”
Competing alongside contestants aged up to 15 for the US Spelling Bee title and a prize worth almost $40,000, Lori Anne Madison was given the word “dirigible” to spell .
After lowering the microphone to meet her height, the six-year-old asked for a definition. She then promptly spelled the word and walked off with a smile.
Other contestants correctly spelled words such as “philately”, the study of postage stamps and postal history; “hafiz”, a term for someone who has memorized the Koran; and “flibbertigibbet” to describe a flighty person. The competition began with “witticism”.
Contestants are eliminated once they misspell a word.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk.
