A 12-year-old Indian-American seventh grader from Florida, Bruhat Soma, emerged victorious at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. In the intense tiebreaker round, he correctly spelled an astonishing 29 words, showcasing his remarkable spelling prowess.
On Thursday, Bruhat Soma won the Scripps National Spelling Bee and received over $50,000 in cash and prizes. Soma’s triumph continues the remarkable dominance of the Indian-American community in this prestigious spelling competition, solidifying their reputation as formidable contenders.
The tension was palpable as this year’s spelling bee came down to a nail-biting tiebreaker round. Bruhat Soma, facing off against Faizan Zaki, managed to spell an impressive 29 words in just 90 seconds, securing his victory.
Soma’s last word, which led to his victory in the championship, was “abseil”. This word means “descent in mountaineering using a rope looped over a projection above”. In this tiebreaker round, Bruhat went first and got through 30 words. This made it appear as if it would be impossible to beat, but Faizan’s pace could have been better at first. He attempted a total of 25 words, but he fumbled four of them.
Bruhat Soma spelled 29 out of 30 words and beat the standing spell-off record set by Harini Logan in 2022. Logan spelled 22 out of 26 words correctly during the competition’s first-ever spell-off”, said the organizers.
Adam Symson, the CEO of The E W Scripps Company, gave Bruhat the championship trophy. Symson said, “At only 12 years old, Bruhat showed great knowledge and composure.”
Bruhat had competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee two times before. In 2023, he tied for 74th place, and in 2022, he tied for 163rd place.
Out of the eight finalists in the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, 5 were Indian-American children: Rishabh Saha (14) and Shrey Parikh (12) from California, Aditi Muthukumar (13) from Colorado, and Ananya Rao Prasanna (13) from North Carolina.
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