Lori Anne Madison studied hard to win a spot in the highly competitive Scripps National Spelling Bee. (Fox)
Meet Lori Anne Madison. The 6-year-old, homeschooled student from Woodbridge, Virg., enjoys studying the dictionary, reading lists, and spelling big, complicated words. In a competition at her elementary school she beat out 21 other kids, including middle schoolers, by nailing “vaquero,” a word of Spanish origin that means cowboy.
After being crowned the 34th Prince William County Spelling Bee champion last Friday, Madison is headed for the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee in May, according to ABC News. She’s the youngest (by two years) to qualify but that doesn’t scare her.
“I have been in competitions with older kids before and I have many friends, some younger and some older, and I feel comfortable in any group,” she told ABC News.
Madison will need confidence to face off the 276 other spellers from across the globe, all vying for over $40,000 in cash and prizes, in Washington, D.C. this spring. ESPN broadcasts the later rounds of the highly competitive event that was the subject of the 2002 Academy Award-nominated documentary Spellbound. The Championship Finals have aired in primetime on ABC.
Pop Quiz: Test your own spelling ability by checking out winning words from past National Spelling Bees below.
