Moving the Moore County Spelling Bee for Literacy to Owens Auditorium at Sandhills Community College this year proved to be a wise decision.

More than 700 fans, friends and family members of the record 17 teams participating in the fifth annual edition of the spelling bee packed the auditorium Thursday night. Last year, more than 60 folks had been turned away at the smaller Sunrise Theater in downtown Southern Pines, where the bee had been staged in its first four years.

The Pilot's team, The Printer's Devils (Steve Bouser, Pat Taylor and Darlene Stark), won the title of spelling bee champions, a fulfillment of the headlines on the preprinted gag newspapers the team brought to the competition. The Pilot won the inaugural competition, but had been denied a repeat title.

The Printer's Devils also carried away the "Keep the Hive Alive" award for raising the most money in the team honeycomb placed in the lobby.

The spelling bee, of which The Pilot is the originator and title sponsor, benefits the Moore County Literacy Council. This year's bee brought in $16,652 , topping last year's total of about $15,000.

"We went into this, switching to a much larger venue, concerned about how to make it a 'cozy' experience, but we were just thrilled with the feel of the whole thing!" said Katherine Stevenson, member of the spelling bee planning committee. "We were just amazed by the turnout. We thought the stage looked terrific, and everyone at Sandhills was so helpful."

The costumes were elaborate, ranging from the full falcon suit worn by one of the O'Neal School's Falconidae Falconus (Lynn Bowness, Josh Roberts and Mitchell Friesen) to the Hogwarts Spell Casters of FirstCarolinaCare (Emily Sloan, Sandra Morris, and Rose Young), who wore robes and carried wands and an owl.

The Lords of Literacy (Don Lock, Emily Hauslohner and Sally Freeman) showed up in long white wigs and truly lordly outfits, carrying a proclamation declaring that they were allowed to spell words "creatively."

The ladies of the Keller Stellar Spellers (Sharon Hyman, Pat Phillips and Kay Bullard), who ultimately carried off the award for best costume, sported sequined caps, antennae, star-shaped sunglasses and a whole lot of attitude. The Stellar Spellers introduced themselves as "Kella," "Stella" and "Miss Spella" in the first round.

Twana McKnight, president of the Moore County Literacy Council board, presented the best costume award to the Keller Stellar Spellers after intermission.

"We're here to have a lot of fun, thanks to the spellers and the nonspellers up here on stage," said "Queen Bee" Susan Sherard, the executive director of the Literacy Council.

Pilot Publisher David Woronoff, who served as master of ceremonies and was the recent winner of the Joan Scott Literacy Award, agreed, saying the literacy council "put the fun in fundraising." He reminded members of the audience that "we're also here to raise money for a good cause."

The Union Pines High School pep band kept the energy level high as folks entered the auditorium, and the Golf Capital Chorus performed a song composed especially for the occasion, singing, "We know we are the best. We'll win a victory. Yes, our team is here to claim a victory."

The Penick Village spellers claimed the honor for best team spirit yet again, though St. Joseph of the Pines gave them some serious competition. Penick Village's last-minute recruitment of the Union Pines pep band gave them an edge that St. Josephs couldn't quite match.

The teams breezed through the first round, with no eliminations. The second round brought more challenging words, and the first three teams up to the podium were eliminated.

The defending champions Wizards of Wordage from the Southern Pines Rotary Club (Rick McDermott, Lisa Brown and Brant Clifton) were the first to fall, misspelling "littoral." The Rebels Without a Clew (Jason Scribner, Tom Denza, and Lee Sawyer) were the next to go when they received the word "bailiwick." Penick Village, which entered the first round with an escort of bagpipers, misspelled "flaneur."

The Bee's Knees (Beth St. John, Raquel Martinez and Kate St. John) had a scare when they spelled "sepulchre" instead of "sepulcher." But judges Linda Pearson, Buddy Spong and Tom Compa confirmed it was a valid alternate spelling. "Ends in Why," of Pinehurst Resort, got "ensconced" wrong and had to take a seat, and the Killer Bees from the Pinehurst Rotary were eliminated by misspelling the word "irrupt."

Twelve teams remained to start the third round after an intermission and a performance by storyteller Granddaddy Junebug (Mitch Capel), who presented the poem "Spelling Bee" by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Nine teams had to sit down during the third round, leaving only the Bee's Knees, The Printer's Devils and The Choristers (Fred Wolferman, Preston Smith and Bruce Blanton).

The fourth round brought the fall of the Choristers, who misspelled "quern." Round five brought a face-off between the Printer's Devils and the Bee's Knees. When the Bee's Knees misspelled "bowdlerize," the Devils pulled off the win by correctly spelling "amanuensis."

Bouser said it was just luck that he had come across the word "amanuensis" in some research he had done recently, although Darlene Stark joked that he uses the word daily in conversation.