Students competed for prizes and prestige during a four-round spelling bee at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night.

The Student Union Board organized a spelling bee for students at 7:30 p.m. in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union.

“We thought it would be a good, educational activity to stimulate the brain while providing entertainment,” said Alison Comb, member of SUB, event co-director and junior in journalism and mass communication.

The evening’s festivities included a drawing, spelling bee and showing the film, “Akeelah and the Bee.”

“It came out of a brainstorming session [by SUB’s team of directors]. Spelling bees used to be very popular and have since phased out. We all loved the idea … we chose the bee theme to keep it fun and not just about spelling,” said Erin Hughes, SUB president and senior in anthropology, who judged the spelling bee.

She was accompanied on the judges’ bench by fellow judge and event announcer, Hollis Monroe, producer for WOI radio.

“I thought it would be fun,” said Monroe, who has been announcing at ISU events for 10 years, including the master graduation ceremony for the last five years and WOI radio.

All participants received dictionaries for competing in the light-hearted but occasionally intense event.

“I am very surprised and quite ecstatic,” said Nathaniel Anderson, freshman in linguistics, who took home the first place prize, an iPod Shuffle.

Anderson beat his final challenger after spelling “ukulele” followed by “tablespoonful.” The second place prize was a Speak & Spell electronic spelling device.

The bee’s first elimination was Emily Carlin, sophomore in art and design, who misspelled “squeaky.”

“My family has always told me without spell-check I would be in trouble,” Carlin said.

The drawing for the DVD, “Akeelah and the Bee,” was won by Angela Carlson, junior in animal science.

Many of the contestants were urged to attend while bored in the dorms.

“I was in my dorm and my friends told me we were going to go spell. I did it for entertainment and I was bored,” said William Hall, freshman in mechanical engineering, who participated in the spelling bee.

“I got my m-a-l-l-e-u-s kicked,” said Thomas McGinley, sophomore in mechanical engineering, who was the fifth speller to be disqualified. Malleus was responsible for McGinley’s defeat.

The spelling bee’s four rounds grew increasingly more difficult as each round passed, starting with common words, and ending with words, like anopistholgraphic, that even the announcer was having difficulty pronouncing. The first- and second-place winners also took home cans of alphabet soup for their efforts.

The SUB will be hosting Bowling for Boobs for of Cancer Awareness Week at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Underground of the union.