Bruhat Soma emerged victorious at the Scripps National Spelling Bee after spelling 29 words correctly in a tiebreaker, beating Faizan Zaki. The 12-year-old from Tampa, Florida, had won three consecutive bees before his triumph at the prestigious competition. He expressed his joy at achieving his goal of winning the Scripps Bee, despite his previous victories in other bees. The final round of the bee featured eight finalists, the fewest since 2010, and was filled with lengthy commercial breaks before introducing the tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker between Bruhat and Faizan happened quickly after the announcement, with Bruhat leading the competition with his accurate spellings. Scripps confirmed that Bruhat’s winning word was “abseil,” giving him the title with one more correct word than Faizan. After being crowned the champion, Bruhat was showered with confetti and handed the winner’s trophy, while Faizan was in tears at the side of the stage. Despite Faizan’s defeat in the tiebreaker, he received a lot of support and hugs from other spellers and friends.
Bruhat’s victory was preceded by a series of other spelling competition wins, including the Words of Wisdom and SpellPundit bees. He also won the first-ever online bee emceed by the previous Scripps champion, Dev Shah. Bruhat’s last loss was in September at the WishWin senior spelling bee, where he was eliminated after misspelling “Gloucester.” During the competition, Bruhat faced various difficult words, including “tennesi,” a monetary unit of Turkmenistan, that he did not know the meaning of.
As the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, Bruhat joins the ranks of Indian American champions and competitors, continuing a quarter-century tradition of excellence in spelling. His victory highlights the success of Indian American spellers in the competition. Additionally, his win is attributed to the coaching and practice sessions with 16-year-old Sam Evans, who tutored several top finishers at the bee. Evans worked closely with Bruhat, Faizan, and Shrey, helping them prepare for the competition.
Bruhat expressed his plans to relax over the summer and spend more time playing and watching basketball, a hobby he set aside while preparing for the spelling bee. His victory signifies the second consecutive win by a student from the Tampa Bay area and continues the streak of Indian American spelling champions in recent years. The ties to his Indian heritage and immigrant parents from Telangana contribute to the representation of Indian Americans in the spelling bee competition. Overall, Bruhat’s win marks a celebrated triumph for his hard work and dedication to competitive spelling, guided by his coach Sam Evans.
