Girl, 6, the youngest ever competitor in Spelling Bee

Lori Anne Madison, 6, of Woodbridge, Virginia, 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. The final round is on Thursday night.

The spelling bee champion wins a $30,000 cash prize from Scripps, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond from Merriam-Webster and a $5,000 scholarship from the Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation, among other prizes, according to the Scripps website.