Bruhat Soma is the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion after a dramatic tiebreaker between the two top spellers in the event.
The 12-year-old was crowned Thursday night after correctly spelling 29 words in 90 seconds in what’s known as a “spell-off.”
He beat Faizan Zaki, who spelled 20 words in 90 seconds.
"I was pretty nervous, but I knew I'd been practicing the spell-off for the whole past year, maybe six months at least," Soma said in an interview after his win. "'You can do this and just try, and you'll be alright,' but my heart was still pumping really fast."
This is the second time the winner of the Bee was determined by a spell-off. Harini Logan won the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee in the same fashion.
Bruhat is a seventh-grade student at Turner/Bartels K-8 School in Tampa, Florida.
"Mainly, my dad helped me with spell-offs and just normal quizzing with hard words," he said. "And my mom and my two sisters were just supportive in general, moral support. Like, whenever I would feel nervous, they would give me a hug."
He previously competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2022 and tied for 163rd place. Bruhat returned in 2023 and tied for 74th place.
The seventh-grader has a lot of interests beyond spelling, including playing basketball and badminton.
Faizan, 12, is a sixth-grade student at Rice Middle School in Dallas.
He previously competed in the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee and tied for 370th. He returned in 2023 and tied for 21st place.
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With 245 competitors, this was the largest field of spellers since the 2019 Bee. They ranged in age from 8 to 15 years old.
The Bee, which takes place in National Harbor, Maryland, had spellers representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. There were also 12 spellers representing the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
All spellers walked away with the experience of a lifetime, but the winner is also taking home $50,000 in cash, a commemorative medal and the famous Scripps Cup, along with numerous other prizes.
Scripps News is a subsidiary of the E.W. Scripps Company, which runs the Bee on a not-for-profit basis.
