By: Eva Huang

On May 30th, Bruhat Soma won the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion after correctly spelling the last word, abseil. Bruhat is a 12-year-old seventh grader from Tampa, Florida, who loves spending his time spelling and practicing for the Spelling Bee each year.

For the past two years, he has appeared at the National Spelling Bee. In 2022, he placed 163rd and last year he placed 74th. This year, he won! It was very close, but he won the tiebreaker round by spelling 29 words correctly in 90 seconds.

Bruhat was very happy with his win and couldn’t believe it himself. He told NPR, “I’m very happy that I won. Like, I really can’t describe it. I’m still shaking.” His spelling coach, a 16-year-old speller named Sam Evans, was extremely proud of Bruhat’s work. Sam was happy for all the dedication and hard work that Bruhat gave.

The prize included $50,000 and a huge trophy. According to Time for Kids, “The trophy was presented to him by Adam Symson, president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company.” In a press conference, Symson said that he was impressed by how Bruhat was able to stay composed and have an amazing display of knowledge.

Next year, the 2025 National Spelling Bee will be hosted during the last few days of May. Hopefully, Bruhat will return and take another stab at the National Spelling Bee title!