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.

Wake County is back in the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition.

As noted in today's article, PAGE of Wake County (Partnership for the Advancement of Gifted Education) has signed a contract to be the Wake sponsor for the 2011 National Spelling Bee. It will be the first time that anyone has sponsored Wake since 1997.

The competition is open to schools in the Wake school system, charter schools, private schools and home schools. You have until Oct. 15 to register at spellingbee.com.