Spellers have 2 minutes to spell their word. When the light turns red, spellers have 30 seconds to complete the spelling of their word, or be eliminated.

Dev Jaiswal of Mississippi spelled both his words correctly and will advance to the Champion Finals tonight.

During commercial breaks, spellers got up, stretched, and talked amongst each other.

Each time a semifinalist missed a word in the semifinals, the other spellers would give him a standing ovation.

Paul Loeffler named ten Championship Finalists.

The Championship Finalists each received a medal.

The Semifinals were suspenseful and full of excitement! I got to sit in the front row with other spellers so I had a great view! Last night, all 49 semifinalists had to take another written spelling and vocabulary test (this was Round 4 of the competition). Rounds 5 and 6 occurred onstage this morning and lasted about 3 1/2 hours. After Round 5, 38 semifinalists remained. There were 21 semifinalists after Round 6. Some examples of words that flummoxed spellers were diamante, syrette, eupyrion, and calefy.

Up to twelve semifinalists with the highest overall aggregate scores from Rounds 1 – 6 can move on to the Championship Finals. This year, ten spellers will advance to the Championship Finals which will occur tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST, and will be broadcast on ESPN.

During the Championship Finals tonight, a speller from every state (or country) has the privilege of sitting onstage. I was chosen to represent Kentucky, so if you are watching, you might just see me on stage!