Bruhat Soma was unbeatable even before he entered the Scripps National Spelling Bee—not the dictionary, his rivals, or the lightning-fast tiebreaker. Challenge him on your way to victory.
Bruhart spelled 29 words correctly in the decider on Thursday night to beat Faizan Zaki by eight points to win the title. He received a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.
The 12-year-old seventh-grader from Tampa, Fla., had won three consecutive bees before arriving at the convention center outside Washington for the most prestigious spelling bee in English.
“I always want to win. That’s my main goal,” Bruhart said. “It doesn’t matter if I win all the other bees. That’s my goal. So I’m really happy that I won this one.
The Bee opened with eight finalists, the fewest since 2010, and it was clear from the start that Scripps was trying to fill the two-hour broadcast window for Ion, the Cincinnati-based Network owned by the media company. There are often long commercial breaks that allow spellers to hang out next to the stage and chat with their coaches, relatives and supporters.
Bee officials then announced that it was time for a tiebreaker, the so-called “spelling bee,” before Bruhart and Faizan had a chance to face off against each other in the regular rounds.
Bruchart went first, and by the time he had finished speaking thirty words, he seemed impossible to defeat. Faizan’s pace was uneven from the start. He tried to say 25 words and got 4 wrong.
Shortly after Brouillette was doused with confetti and handed the trophy, Faizan broke down in tears at the side of the stage and accepted hugs from fellow spellers. Minutes ago, he hugged his good friend Shrey Parikh after Shrey was eliminated on stage.
Coming into the competition, Bruhart was undefeated in his past three spelling bees.
He won the Words of Wisdom competition run by former speller, coach, study guide author and Guardian writer Scott Remer. He won an expert spelling contest organized by the study guidance company. He also won last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee winner Dev Shah’s first online contest as host.
“He’s very competitive,” Bruhart’s coach, Sam Evans, a 16-year-old former speller, said before the finals. “I mean, he loves winning.”
With Thursday’s win, Bruhart walked away with more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.
Despite some surprising eliminations in the semi-finals, the eight finalists were a generally impressive group – albeit a young squad. Only three are eighth-graders in their final year of eligibility: Kirsten Tiffany Santos, 13, of Richmond, Texas; and Rishabh Saha, 14, of Mo., Calif. Seder; and Aditi Muthukumar, 13, of Westminster, Colorado.
The rest are in sixth or seventh grade: Shrey Parikh, 12, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; Faizan Zaki, 12, of Allen, Texas; YY Liang, 12, of Hartsdale, N.Y. ; and Ananya Prassana, 13, of Apex, North Carolina.
Shrey and Faizan were close friends of Bruhat, and all three were mentored by Evans.
“I’m not surprised that my students have made it this far. I know they are ready. All of them have what it takes to win,” Evans said.
Bruhart’s clear command of the dictionary particularly impressed his coaches and other onlookers.
“We learn so many words every class, more than I’ve seen from any other speller. His work ethic is incredible,” Evans said. “Once he misses a word, he rarely misses it again. He sees it and remembers it.
Faizan became a crowd favorite in the semi-finals because of his excited fist pumping when he spelled correctly and his empathy – he rushed over to his good friend Aryan when he was eliminated A big hug from Khedkar.
“It was so sad to see him lose in his final year,” Fezan said. “So I just want to support him and help him through this difficult time.”
Aditi won the Colorado Spelling Bee after a lengthy duel with her fifth-grade sister Aditya. She finished tied for 74th at last year’s Scripps Bee, but she started studying harder and teaming up with Reimer to try to make bigger leaps.
“When we started working together, she had some holes and gaps. But what impressed me was how quickly she improved,” Reimer said. “She absorbed the content of the course very smoothly and perfectly.”
