COEUR d'ALENE - The final word of the 2011 North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee - the strange noun that would send one young speller to Washington, D.C., - was "bezoar."

According to the dictionary, a bezoar is "a small stony concretion that may form in the stomachs of certain animals." The word stems from old French and Arabic creations, and is rarely, if ever, used in everyday conversation.

Rebekah Pinkerton, a sharp, smartly-dressed 11-year-old from Coeur d'Alene, had no trouble with "bezoar." She walked calmly across the stage at North Idaho College's Boswell Auditorium, spoke confidently into the microphone and spelled it out.

"What went through my mind was it was either one 'E' or two," said Rebekah, a home-schooled fifth-grader. "I'm never nervous spelling, but I'm always nervous in my seat, beforehand."

Rebekah's performance qualified her for the Scripps National Spelling Bee this May. She earned an all-expense-paid trip to the nation's capital, courtesy of The Coeur d'Alene Press, where she'll compete against top spellers from around the country.

Rebekah said she has never been to Washington, D.C., and she's excited to make the trip.

The young lady also took home a plaque and medallion, a new dictionary, a $100 savings bond and other fine prizes. Hard work was her ticket to success: Rebekah studies spelling six days per week, 1-2 hours per day, she said.

Forty-five public, private and home-schooled students assembled at NIC for Saturday's regional. Before a panel of judges, they spelled tricky words like "tomatillo," "hawthorn," "kahuna" and "filibuster."

"It was kind of a little stressful," said 13-year-old Benson Waldrop of St. Maries, who danced a little jig every time he spelled a word right. "My mom made me go through the list and write every single word on it five times each."

Tristan Panke, a seventh-grader at Silver Valley Christian Academy, finished in second place after "inselberg" tripped him up (the dictionary says: "an isolated hill or mountain rising abruptly from a plain"). To win the bee, Rebekah had to spell both inselberg and bezoar on her last turn.

Representing Sandpoint Middle School, seventh-grader Hayla Evans took third, while Caleb Stedman of Rathdrum finished fourth.

"I just want to try as hard as I can," said 13-year-old Caleb, who competed against his younger brother, Andrew, on Saturday. "I'm pretty competitive, so, it means a lot to me."

Andrew Stedman, 12, bowed out before the final rounds. He said he and Caleb spent a lot of time preparing for the event.

"We went through the whole spell list, and studied it. I studied the dictionary, too. In my regular schoolwork, I did spelling," Andrew said. "(The bee) was pretty cool. It was fun."

The final four contestants labored through six grueling rounds before the regional was finally decided. It was an endurance event for the spellers - altogether, the bee went on for about three hours and change.