<p>Laodicean: lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. Guerdon: a reward, prize, or accolade. Serrefine: small forceps used for clamping an artery. These difficult-to-spell words have been the winning words for the past three years of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The competition is held annually at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. during two days at the end of May or beginning of June. It began in 1925, when the winning word was gladiolus, as spelled by Frank Neuhauser. At this point, it was organized in Louisville, Kentucky, but when the Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company assumed control, it moved to the nation’s capital. The first round is a 25-word written test, and the others are oral spelling tests, televised by the ABC network starting in 2006. The spelling bee was cancelled from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II. Forty-four champions have been girls, while forty-one have been boys; three times the national competition has been declared a tie. These competitors, many of whom have been home-schooled in the recent years, practice for hours every day learning not just the spelling, but the definitions, etymologies, and parts of speech. This rigorous contest has achieved an exalted place in our country.</p>