12 year boy wins National Spelling Bee contest In US
Bruhat Soma, a 12-year-old Indian-American seventh-grader from Florida, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling 29 words in the tiebreaker, continuing the trend of dominance by children from his ethnic community in this prestigious competition.
Bruhat secured victory in the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, taking home over $50,000 in cash and other prizes.
The contest was decided by a tiebreaker where Bruhat spelled 29 words correctly in 90 seconds, outpacing Faizan Zaki, who correctly spelled 20 words in the lightning round.
His championship word was “abseil,” defined as “descent in mountaineering by means of a rope looped over a projection above.” Bruhat went first in the tiebreaker, and after successfully spelling 30 words, it seemed unbeatable. Faizan, however, had a less steady start, attempting 25 words and missing four.
“Bruhat Soma rules the word! The Champion of the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee! The boy with the unbelievable memory doesn’t miss a word all week and takes home the Scripps Cup!” announced the organizers.
“Bruhat Soma correctly spelled 29 out of 30 words attempted, earning the coveted champion title and surpassing the spell-off record set by Harini Logan in 2022, who spelled 22 out of 26 words correctly in the first-ever spell-off,” the organizers added.
“As the competition progressed, it was clear that Faizan and Bruhat – our final two spellers – were ready to take down the dictionary tonight,” said Corrie Loeffler, executive director of the Bee.
“Together, they were a powerful match. Bee officials activated the spell-off in the competition’s closing minutes, giving these stellar spellers an opportunity to show even more of what they can do,” Loeffler said.
