Congratulation to Catherine Wagner for winning today's Wake County Spelling Bee.

Wagner, 13, an eighth-grader at St. Michael School in Cary, came out on top of a field that included 78 competitors, mostly from the Wake County school system. The event lasted more than 4 1/2 hours and 23 rounds.

Wagner's prizes will include an all-expenses paid trip in June to Washington D.C. for the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Wagner will be the first student to represent Wake in the national competition since 1997.