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By BEN NUCKOLS Associated Press

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) - The youngest speller in National Spelling Bee history said Thursday that she knew the word she misspelled during the competition, but she was too tired, bored and stressed out to concentrate when she stepped to the microphone.

Six-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Va., fell four points short of making the semifinals at the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee. If she had spelled "ingluvies" correctly during Wednesday's preliminary rounds - she began the word with an "e'' - and gotten one more word correct on a computer test, she would have achieved a qualifying score.

"I was really disappointed that I misspelled the word. I knew the word," Lori Anne said Thursday. "It was just too bad that I misspelled the word."

Admittedly overwhelmed by the media attention, the home-schooled prodigy held court with reporters for 25 minutes Thursday morning. Although she wasn't always forthcoming with her answers, making clear she'd rather be outside playing with her friends. Her blue eyes lit up when talking about her experience at a barbecue on Monday.

"I blew some absolutely huge bubbles, like this big!" she said, holding her hands a foot apart and reminding everyone of her age.

Waiting for her turn to spell wasn't so much fun. She hadn't gotten enough sleep and came close to nodding off, and the hour-and-a-half wait "seemed like two millennia," she said.

"I was just stressed. It was a really, really long wait," Lori Anne said. "Overall, it was just boring. Really boring! Really boring!"

She did enjoy interacting with the other spellers - many of whom are more than twice her age and twice her size - and she gets a thrill out of hearing a word she knows and spelling it correctly. She pledged to return next year.

"I just love spelling, so I'm really excited to go to next year's bee - if I go, which is probably going to be a yes," she said.

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Youngest-ever speller disappointed by mistake

6-year old Lori Anne C. Madison of Woodbridge, Virginia, after the second round of the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee competition May 30, 2012 in National Harbor, Maryland. 278 spellers are competing in the 85th annual competition. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

BOSTON (CBS) Theyre finishing up the annual national spelling bee today, and if youve never sat down and watched the thing with a kid you care about, I strongly recommend it.

The kids are so smart, so poised, and its a rare example of intellectual excellence being given the star treatment and exposure normally reserved for athletic competition.

Listen to Jons commentary:

But the spelling bee also raises a question do we care about spelling as much as we used to, or as much as we should?

An article in yesterdays USA Today points out that proper spelling does still appear to matter in some quarters.

They quote one expert saying that when a paper or an application or a report or even an e-mail contains spelling errors, people who read it judge it harshly, and cite research showing that job applicants who submit resumes or applications with misspellings are statistically less likely to advance.

And it seems thats increasingly the rule, not the exception.

The experts say many schools no longer bother with spelling instruction, a 15-year trend linked with declining reading scores.

Even the detail-oriented Romney campaign has faltered in this way, putting out a press release this week that spelled America A-m-e-r-c-i-a.

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Keller @ Large: When You See A Word Misspelled, Do You Care?

In the Odessa City Council today, 29 may, a meeting of the Commission on the implementation of the program the preservation and development of the Russian language in Odessa, correspondent BakuToday the press-service of the City Council.

According to the information provided, in the meeting, in addition to the members of the Commission, was attended by chiefs of profile departments of Odessa City Council, representatives of public organizations, Deputy of Odessa City Council, representatives of the Consulate-General of Russia in Odessa and the teachers of the Russian language and CENTERS them. I.i. Mechnikov. During the meeting, members discussed the conduct of activities in the framework of the International Festival the great Russian word in the city of Odessa. Press Service recalled that Grand Russian word is an International Festival every year, for the sixth time in Crimea. Delegation from Odessa traditionally takes part in it. This year, at the initiative of the Commission on the implementation of the program the preservation and development of the Russian language in Odessa, chaired by the Deputy of Odessa City Council Alexey Kosmina the Festival for the first time will take place in Odessa.

Within the framework of the International Festival the great Russian word 5 June will take place round table the preservation and development of the Russian language: problems and prospects, with the participation of deputies of city councils of South of Ukraine, representatives of the Ministry of education and science, youth and sport, as well as a forum for young researchers-rusistov, which will be attended by more than 100 people from different cities of Ukraine of more than 15 areas. Organizers stressed that the Forum is purely scientific and educational nature.

In all events happening in our city to the day of Russian literature, will be attended by writers, poets, writers from Russia and Ukraine, which will arrive in Odessa with Literary expedition project implemented within the framework of the inter-State programme of cultural cooperation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Expedition, in which more than 70 people from Russia and Ukraine, 4 June arrival in Odessa. As coordinator of the expedition Nelya Fazlova, this is an unprecedented project of cultural cooperation of Russia and Ukraine, aimed at building a common intellectual and cultural space of Russia and Ukraine, acquaintance with modern trends in Russian, Ukrainian and World Science and culture, the support and cooperation of intellectuals and the general public of our countries.

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Odesa prepares first International Festival Grand Russian word “

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Smart young people from across the nation compete to become the next National Spelling Bee champion. Above, Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Va. is the youngest-ever contestant in the National Spelling Bee.

By msnbc.com staff and NBC News

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- "W-i-t-t-i-c-i-s-m." And with that word, correctly spelled byKevin Lazenby, 13, of Opelika, Ala., the85th National Spelling Bee got under way on Wednesday morning.

Each of the 278 participants spells two wordsduring the day's preliminary rounds, and their scores will be combined with their scores from a 50-word computer test they took Tuesday to determine the field of no more than 50 semifinalists, The Associated Press reported. You can follow along with the day's rounds here.

This year's contest included the bee's youngest speller ever: 6-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Va. Lori Anne, speller No. 269, correctly spelled "dirigible" during her turn just before noon Wednesday. The Washington Post reported that she asked for a definition, got the word right and quickly took her seat.

But she misspelled "ingluvies" during the third round later that afternoon. Ingluvies means the craw or crop of birds; Lori Anne provided the spelling e-n-g-l-u-v-i-e-s. The error does not eliminate her from the bee but will count toward her final score of the day, which will determine whether she moves on to the semifinals.

Original post:
'D-i-r-i-g-i-b-l-e': 6-year-old nails it at Spelling Bee

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

Smart young people from across the nation compete to become the next National Spelling Bee champion. Above, Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Va. is the youngest-ever contestant in the National Spelling Bee.

By msnbc.com staff and NBC News

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- "W-i-t-t-i-c-i-s-m." And with that word, correctly spelled byKevin Lazenby, 13, of Opelika, Ala., the85th National Spelling Bee got under way on Wednesday morning.

Each of the 278 participants spells two wordsduring the day's preliminary rounds, and their scores will be combined with their scores from a 50-word computer test they took Tuesday to determine the field of no more than 50 semifinalists, The Associated Press reported. You can follow along with the day's rounds here.

This year's contest included the bee's youngest speller ever: 6-year-old Lori Anne Madison of Lake Ridge, Va. Lori Anne, speller No. 269, correctly spelled "dirigible" during her turn just before noon Wednesday. The Washington Post reported that she asked for a definition, got the word right and quickly took her seat.

But she misspelled "ingluvies" during the third round later that afternoon. Ingluvies means the craw or crop of birds; Lori Anne provided the spelling e-n-g-l-u-v-i-e-s. The error does not eliminate her from the bee but will count toward her final score of the day, which will determine whether she moves on to the semifinals.

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'D-i-r-i-g-i-b-l-e': 6-year-old nails first word at Spelling Bee