12-Year-Old Indian-American Bruhat Soma Triumphs in US National Spelling Bee

May 31 :
In a spell-off on May.30, 12-year-old Bruhat Soma of Tampa, Florida, won the 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee. In that time, he properly spelt 29 words, including some of the most esoteric, complicated, and plain tough terms in the English language.

There were two contestants left standing as time ran out, therefore for the second time since its introduction in 2021, the yearly competition proceeded to a spell-off, a rapid-elimination format.

With his accurate spelling of "Hoofddorp," a town close to Amsterdam, Bruhat advanced to the spell-off.

The result was a showdown with Faizan Zaki, a 12-year-old from Allen, Texas, who aced the word "nicuri," which comes from the Brazilian palm tree, without bothering to look it up or find out what it means.

Before the timer ran out, Bruhat sped through a list of words in the spell-off, getting 29. Twenty words from the same list were spelt correctly by Faizan in his allotted 90 seconds.

The legendary trophy and fifty grand prize were presented to Bruhat, a basketball aficionado who had earlier been featured in a pre-show filmed segment shooting hoops.

For the final three days of competition at a convention centre outside of Washington, the eight finalists were chosen from 245 local champions, ranging in age from eight to fifteen, after regional tournaments had reduced the field.

Puzzles including "kanin" (poached rice in the Philippines), "murrina" (a horse ailment), and "Lillooet" (a people from modern-day British Columbia) defeated several of the finalists. The young contestants wowed the audience with their composure and accuracy as they correctly spelt some of the most obscure and difficult terms in the English language.

Aside from a three-year hiatus during WWII and again in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scripps media group has been the event's sponsor since 1925. Competitors hailed from every state in the US, plus DC, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands; the majority were American. Attendees this year also included Canadians, Bahamians, Germans, and Ghanaians.