Although Hammock’s spellers gave it a valiant effort, their hopes of winning the Nashville Area Literacy Council‘s Spelling Bee for the third time were done in by the word “stratagem,” which the team missed by spelling it as “strategem.” The error eliminated Team Hammock just shy of the final four teams, who had to tackle words such as “fermata” and “triskaidekaphobia.”

With the theme of “Words and Music,” the Bee was packed with musical terms, such as “zydeco” — a spicy form of Cajun music and dance that the Hammock Team took in stride. The ultimate winner of the Bee was The Ingram Content Group. Congratulations to them!

Team Hammock is already strategizing for next year’s contest.