Bruhat Soma Wins 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee in Spell-Off, Spells 29 Words

May 31, 2024, 03:59 AM

Bruhat Soma, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Tampa, Florida, has won the 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee. Soma secured his victory by correctly spelling 29 words, including 'heautophany,' 'nachschläge,' and 'puszta,' in a 90-second spell-off, defeating Faizan Zaki by nine words. This year's competition featured 245 spellers, the largest field since 2019. The final round, which took place on Thursday night, marked only the second time in the bee's history that a spell-off was used to determine the winner. Soma's final word was 'abseil,' and he received a trophy along with more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Soma's win continues the trend of Indian-American dominance in the competition, with 29 of the last 35 champions being of Indian origin.