The 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee, which kicked off on Tuesday with a total of 281 spellers participating in the 87th annual competition, now has a total of 46 spellers who move on to the Semifinal Round on Thursday. By Thursday evening at the end of the Championship Final Round, only one speller will emerge victorious.

The bee is taking place on May 27, 28 and 29 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The preliminaries, semifinals and championship rounds will be available as live streamed events and will also be broadcast live on TV via ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3.

According to a recent news release, the National Spelling Bee started in 1925 with nine contestants. The E.W. Scripps Company took ownership of the Bee in 1941, after not holding the competition for three years during World War II, has managed the Bee continuously since 1946.

This year's competition began with over 11 million students participating in classrooms, schools and locally-sponsored spelling bees. Just 281 of those 11 million made it to the actual event in Maryland and just one winner will come in ahead of all the others at first place by Thursday night.

"The Scripps National Spelling Bee is one of America's most enduring celebrations of academic excellence. It's a great American tradition," Paige Kimble, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee said in a statement. "This event spotlights our mission to inspire children to improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies and develop correct English usage that will help them all of their lives."

As noted earlier, 46 of the original 281 spellers made it through Wednesday's preliminary rounds and into the semifinals which began on Wednesday night with a computer-based test.

The semifinals continue on Thursday morning and will be broadcast on ESPN2 or can be seen streaming live here. Thursday's semifinal round will begin at 10:00 a.m. EST and last until 1:00 p.m. EST.

The Championship Finals are slated to go down on Thursday evening from 8:00 p.m. EST to 10:00 p.m. EST, where only the cream of this year's crop of spellers will take to the stage. The Championship Finals will be broadcast on ESPN and will also be available via live stream on ESPN.com.

According to Scripps, this year's 281 participants have converged from eight countries including the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. U.S. competitors hail from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense schools in Europe.

The official Scripps National Spelling Bee 2014 Facebook page includes a gallery of photos of the remaining 46 contestants. With each photo is a short bio of that speller, The official Scripp's website also has a roster of the 46 semifinalists.

According to a report from naplesnews.com, many spellers were relieved during the preliminary rounds to receive "common" words such as "lieutenant," "poignant," "pyre," "escargot," "rapport," "visceral," "dichotomy," and "mistletoe."

Some of the more difficult and outlandish words seen so far this year include "galjoen" (a sport fish of Africa), "roodebok" (a small antelope) and "schottische" (a polka-like dance).

For those that are wondering -- what else is in it for these super spellers aside from prime time TV appearances? Well, you can rest assured that this year's competitors and victors will be rewarded handsomely for their efforts.

All participants in the bee will receive a CD-ROM version of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged from Merriam Webster. From Mr. Jay Sugarman the spellers will all also win the Samuel Louis Sugarman Award -- a 2014 United States mint Proof Set presented by Mr. Sugarman in honor of his father. From Microsoft, all spellers will receive educational tools, including a 12-month subscription to Microsoft Office 365 Home Edition. Lastly, from Encyclopædia Britannica, all spellers this year will be awarded with a one-year membership to Britannica Online Premium.

All of the 2014 semifinalists will also be rewarded with a $500 gift card and a medal from the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The Championship Finalists this year will all receive a medal from Scripps as well as a cash prize. The second place winner will receive $12,500; third place will receive $7,500; fourth place will receive $3,000; fifth place will receive $2,500; sixth place will receive $2,000; and finally, those that misspell in the first round of the Championship Finals to seventh place will receive $1,500.

And for the Grand Champion: Scripps will offer up a $30,000 cash award and a National Spelling Bee engraved trophy. Merriam-Webster will bestow upon the grand champion a $2,500 U.S. savings bond and a complete reference library. Lastly, Encyclopædia Britannica will award the first place winner $1,200 worth of reference works including The Britannica Global Edition, 1768 Encyclopedia Britannica Replica Set Deluxe Edition, a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium and Britannica World Atlas.

Good luck, spellers!

-----

For the latest news & updates, follow reporter Bary Alyssa Johnson on Twitter: @MissBary