Nine previous winners of the Scripps National Spelling Bee are now on stage, as the 11 competing spellers join us.
Representatives of all the U.S. states and territories and the foreign countries who sent spellers to the Bee are on stage, too.
"Let's have a great spelling bee tonight," said Paige Kimble, the Bee's executive director and the 1981 champion.
We'll start in just a minute.