By: Ethan Tong

On May 30, a seventh-grader named Bruhat Soma from Tampa, Florida won the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee. He spelled 29 words correctly without making a mistake in 1 minute and 30 seconds.

The last word he spelled was abseil. Abseil is often used for the sport of mountaineering.

This was not Soma’s first time in a spelling bee, but in fact his third time participating in a spelling bee. Last year in 2023, Bruhat was 74th place. And the year before that in 2022 he came in 163th place.

“I’ve been working very hard, so I put a lot of time into spelling. I’m really happy that I won. Like, I really can’t describe it. I’m shaking.” Bruhat told NPR.

Bruhat’s spelling coach was a 16-year-old called Sam Evan. Evan coached three of the top four finishers. Evan told the Press that Bruhat put in a lot of effort and hard work to win first place in the spelling bee.

Bruhat won $50,000 in reference material and a trophy. The CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company, Adam Symson, was the one who gave him the trophy.

“Bruhat impressed me with his display of knowledge and composure,” Symson said.