THE 2007 DOMINIC ERRAZO AWARD: For the third straight year, we are proud to announce the winner of the Dominic Errazo Award, named in honor of the speller each year who progresses the farthest with the shortest, easiest words. In Mr. Errazo's case in 2005, it was ennui, junco, emetic and chinook to take him well into Thursday. Last year, Lawrence Chiao's "grimace" in Round 3 made him an easy winner.

For 2007, Selena Roper of Annapolis, MD can already claim the prize. She's now into Round 6 having spelled primitive, requisite, oleic and now -- during a round that's otherwise been a bloodbath -- bee-ALL-ee, which any resident of the BOS-NY-PHL-DC-plex knows is like bagel, but different, and if you didn't know it from that basis, well, you know it from The Producers, as in, "-stock and Bloom". Congratulations, and good luck.

GOOD MORNING, VICTOR SUTTON:  And welcome to round 5. 49 spellers remain; two rounds of spelling today before the second, and final test-based cut.

The Bee has published the semifinalists' scores; those who aren't in the top twelve here do not control their destiny, but need others above them to err.  Sigh.

10:20am: gla-SWEEJ-uhn, gla-SWEE-jee-uhn, oh, I am a sucker for adjectival forms of places.  4/6 so far.

10:37am: And the Jamaican goes down!  10/14 through so far, but, again, anyone not on the front page of the scoreboard likely isn't advancing no matter what.

10:40am: Vanya gets ... consomme? Really? (And after pistachio and balletomane.) The Dominic Errazo Award is very much in play here.

11:11am: Marsha helps us track the scoreboard in livetime.

11:51am: I cannot complain more loudly as to how much publishing the rankings table robs these rounds of suspense, as we know who the no-hope kids are.  (And, for what it's worth, they're the ones who are erring this round.)  I hope this is a one-year experiment, never to be repeated.

NO THANKS TO ESPN360.COM: Round Three has begun with the first speller making it through and the next three misspelling giusto, kibbutzim, and Sarsar.

update #1: It's hard to be snarky when you've heard of like five of the first 30 words. Fortunately for me, my husband comes from a big muh-stah-CHOH-lee town. (Kim)

update #2: It's not just those in Brooklyn who can spell Loo-ba-vich-uhr, but even those from Prince Edward Island. (Matt)

update #3: Non-PEI Canadians are having a tough time of it right now, with the last eight misspelled words all coming from our North of the Border neighbors. (Kim)

update #4: Fortunately for Canada, it would seem to be the case that Stamford, Connecticut's geological landscape is a little light on the ai-GWEEL. (Kim)

update #5: A big welcome to all Instapundit readers! Hope you check back throughout the next two days. We'll be having a live chat during tomorrow night's finale. (The Pathetic Earthling)

update #6: This round is totally reminding me of one of those dreams where you show up for class not knowing you had a test that day and having no idea what it was you were being tested on. Except that these kids did know what was coming -- which makes it worse, right? (Kim)

update #7 An early contender for the annual Dominic Errazo Award (given to the entrant who makes it the furthest on the easiest words) is Chicago's Andrew Napora, who amid a bloodbath round with words like "amphisbaena," "pendeloque," and "rouen" drew the word TRUH-kyoo-lehnt instead. See, also, Talmage Nakamoto of Honolulu, drawing a word that's not exactly ihn-EKS-uh-ruh-buhl. (Adam) (Post bumped up.)

update #8 A happy song for Speller No. 116, Imogen Page, who's not quite old enough to appreciate it. (Happiness at the misfortune of others? That IS German!) (Adam)

update #9 Your Balderdash words for round 3, part one: torrefaction, gavelkind, robinsonade, braunschweiger, nyctipelagic ("of or pertaining to one of New York City's four island-based boroughs"), brodequin ("an essay written in a style which presumes one is capable of determining the conventional wisdom"), koinonia ("the state of perpetual buying of Japanese fish.") (Adam)

update #10 Put together one of my favorite Bee names this year -- Django Grootmyers of Lewis Center, Ohio -- and one of my favorite words -- oubliette (where it rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again) -- and we're 5/6 through this round. Foodie words causing trouble include tihm-BAHL, muh-SAL-uh, suh-muhl-YAY and teht-ruh-ZEEN-ee. (Adam)

update #11 Dan Steinberg talks to the spellers. My new theory: this year's Canadians are the Texans. On paper, at least, they're doing well. (Adam)

COULD YOU USE THAT IN A SENTENCE, PLEASE?  Welcome to Round 3, each speller's second guaranteed chance before the microphones. Last year it was at the same level of difficulty as Round 2, so we'll see.

After this round, we'll find out who the up-to-fifty spellers are who'll proceed to tomorrow morning's semifinals.  (Up to 25 points from yesterday's computerized round, +3 for each of today's words.)

1:53 pm: 37/41 correct so far; one of the errors was on a word I've used in Words With Friends, and which a member of this community doubted was real. Heh. And, Marsha? They just used lahk-shuhn.

1:58 pm: Happy birthday, Philemon from Ghana! Now spell dynamogenesis!  (He did.)

2:07 pm: Early nominee for the annual Dominic Errazo Award for the easiest path to Thursday: Simon Ricci has had fuh-SEE-shuss and mo-TEEF thus far.

2:21 pm: If it's Wednesday, it means some kid's getting pehr-uh-STROY-kuh.  Apartheid is sure to follow.

POSTPRANDIAL (via Kingsley): While we don't yet have the full listof qualifiers, Round 3 has begun, and it looks like Dr. Jacques and the gang have decided to take it easy on the kids, with nineteen in a row correct to start the round. We'll be here past Nightline tomorrow if they stick with words like this:

GAHR-goil: them statues what come out the sides of buildings
huh-RANG: to deliver a speech denouncing a streaky pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds.
SPEE-sees-iz-um: preferring one's own
REHL-uh-vuhn-see: See Fed. R. Evid. 401.
ihn-ad-VEHR-tunt: Oops, I did it again.
ohb-STREP-uh-ruhs: And I'll do it again.
pehn-uh-SILL-uhn: And if I do it again in Tijuana, I'll take two of these.
noo-MOAN-yah: Or else I may get this.
DECK-uh-dehns: My brother's bachelor party is this weekend.
vawd-VIHL-yun: Though that's not the kind of entertainment he's hoping for.
TAHR-puh-lin: Unless we go see Gallagher.
ron-DAY-voo: That's what I'm talking about. Ooh, Bruce Springsteen wants one too.

Follow it online, and feel free to post your thoughts here.

edited to add: GRIMACE? Someone got to spell GRIMACE? Lawrence Chiou is well on his way to winning the annual Dominic Errazo Award for the shortest, easiest path to the Thursday rounds...

WAS THAT A SECRET MESSAGE? Okay, one last Bee note: here's the video of speller Dominic Errazo randomly quoting Napoleon Dynamite before spelling 'chinook'.

We gave him something of a hard time last week, but this makes up for it.

THE SWEET SPELL OF SUCCESS: We are back from lunch, and into round seven. Dominic Errazo did, indeed, fail on the first word greater than seven letters he faced, Mr. Earthling's hometown hero is advancing an EHN-thuh-meem that may lead to his victory, and the lone Canadian left has survived by going VUR-tuh-sihl with a circular arrangement of flowers.

Twenty-seven spellers entered this round; how many will survive?

ALL BETS ARE ON: You are now invited to select a speller to win the National Spelling Bee tomorrow. They're all listed here (the ones without the E's, obvo).

First come, first served. Choose one, and only one. Explain your reasoning, and show all work.

For me, since it's my blog, I get to take four-timer Katharine Close of Spring Lake, NJ. A woman has yet to win this century, and she's battle-tested and ready.

(I look forward to someone taking Alexis Ducotte, given the meager words he's had to spell so far, or Dominic Errazo, he of the three words in sixteen letters.)

More statistics and analysis to come later tonight. Did you know all 4 four-timers have survived to tomorrow's championship?