Emily Hill abruptly ended a back-and-forth final round at the Newspapers-in-Education Spelling Bee Thursday night at Maceli’s.

Hill, with her sister, Sarah Hill-Nelson, and her mother, Marcia, represented Bowersock Mills Power Co. and Zephyr Energy, which outlasted the Laser Logic team when she correctly spelled “hartal,” which means a day of mourning or protest.

At one point during the final round, neither team wanted to quit; they combined to spell nine words correctly in a row.

“It was a great competition. The Laser Logic team is very smart. It’s fun to compete against them,” Sarah Hill-Nelson said.

The two spelling trios competed in the annual bee at Maceli’s. The bee began with teams from seven area businesses and organizations.

Laser Logic’s team of Mike Zerwekh, Ricky Fursetzer and Scotty Karlin also shared the spelling bee’s Spirit Award with the People’s Bank team.

The teams pay $250 to enter the tournament, and they could pay an extra $100 twice to return to competition after misspelling words.

Sarah hill-nelson, right, talks over the spelling of a word with her sister, Emily Hill, and her mother, Marcia Hill, during Thursday night's 2006 Newspapers-in-Education Spelling Bee at Maceli's, 1031 N.H. The family's team for Bowersock Mills Power Co. and Zephyr Energy won the seven-team spelling bee, which raised ,650 for the newspaper program.

The teams raised $2,650 for Newspapers in Education, a program in which the Journal-World provides more than 1,000 newspapers to Douglas County schools.

Sponsors for the event were Maceli’s, Bittersweet Garden and Design, Huxtable & Associates and the seven team participants, which also included Allen Press, Bishop Seabury Academy, Hallmark Cards and Sunflower Broadband.

Cathy Hamilton, host of “Home & Away” on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6, was the announcer for the competition. Journal-World managing editor Dennis Anderson and copy editor Susie Fagan judged.

The first round of the competition brought one surprise, as the Allen Press team – the two-time defending champion – misspelled “stadium.”

“We all spelled the word right (at the table). When I stood up there, the letters I said weren’t right. I left the ‘d’ out,” Eric Hutchinson said.

A 6Productions crew taped the event, and it is expected to air sometime next month.