Pinned
Emmett Lindner
A fast-paced spell-off capped the night: Takeaways from the spelling bee.
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The Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday came down to its second-ever spell-off, a fast-and-furious tiebreaking round that rewards speed as much as accuracy. Given 90 seconds to spell as many of the announced words as possible, Bruhat Soma and Faizan Zaki, the two remaining spellers after 14 rounds, stood tense over a blue buzzer as they flew through words difficult to comprehend even at conversational speed.
When the results were tallied, Bruhat — a 12-year-old from Tampa, Fla. — came out on top with a superhuman total of 29 correct words, seven more words than the previous spell-off winner in 2022. As the confetti fell from the ceiling, Bruhat smiled widely, held the trophy high above his head and shook hands with Faizan.
If you weren’t able to watch the finals on Thursday night, here are three takeaways.
The schwa and hom*onyms were a tough hurdle.
The difficulty of the finals was immediately apparent: The first speller onstage, Rishabh Saha, misspelled “desmotrope,” a chemistry term. As an eighth-grader, Rishabh will not be eligible to compete in the 2025 Scripps Bee.
The schwa — the “uh”-like sound that can be represented by any vowel in the English alphabet — tripped him up, much like it did for several spellers in 2023. He added an “a” in place of the first “o.”
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Shrey Parikh also fell to the schwa with the word “kanin,” a kind of boiled rice used in the Philippines. He spelled it as “kanan.” Shortly after, Ananya Prassanna misspelled “murrina,” a word of Spanish origin, as “marina.”
YY Liang got tripped up by “immanent,” a hom*onym of “imminent,” and was the second to be eliminated. Kirsten Santos was taken out next by another hom*onym, “apophasis,” which she spelled “apophysis.”
A trend of the night: Indigenous vocabularies.
The 13th round featured several Indigenous words. Shrey correctly spelled “Jumano,” a group of Native Americans that lived in the Southwest and South Plains between until around 1700. He asked twice for an etymology, but judges told him that it had none, given the dictionary. No matter — he nailed the spelling.
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The next competitor, Aditi Muthukumar, was asked to spell Lillooet, a Salishan people of the Fraser River valley in British Columbia. The word also did not have a language of origin listed, and it knocked Aditi out of the finals.
Immediately after Aditi came Bruhat, the night’s eventual champion, who correctly spelled “Okvik,” from an Alaskan geographical name.
Texas, almost always home to finalists, could not clinch a win.
Texas holds the title of being home to the most Bee champions, with 16 spellers from the Lone Star State holding the trophy under clouds of confetti. Out of the 20 Texans who made it to the nationals this year, only two remained by the finals.
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Faizan, who is from the Dallas area, came in second place after spelling 20 words correctly in the spell-off.
The eight finalists spanned the United States, with spellers from California to New York.
May 30, 2024, 11:41 p.m. ET
Aimee Ortiz and Alexandra E. Petri
Bruhat Soma was on a mission to win after a disappointing loss last year.
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When Bruhat Soma lifted the ceramic Scripps National Spelling Bee trophy in a blizzard of confetti as cheers erupted from the audience late Thursday night, he was shocked but he also knew that, finally, he had achieved his goal. He was the champion.
“I’m really happy that I won,” Bruhat said during a phone interview on Friday morning. “It’s like a dream come true.”
The 12-year-old from Tampa, Fla., won in a spell-off round — just the second one to be held in the history of the competition. Bruhat rattled off a head-spinning 29 correctly spelled words in 90 seconds, including heautophany, nachschläge and puszta.
Bruhat’s spell-off sprint on Thursday night won him the competition’s trophy, the Scripps Cup, and a grand prize of $50,000. He far surpassed his competitor, Faizan Zaki, a sixth grader from Dallas who correctly spelled 20 words, and also the bee’s previous spell-off record of 22 correct words in 2022, according to Bee officials.
The spell-off came easily to Bruhat, who said he had prepared for this exact moment for six months. His father, Srinivas Soma, would prepare a daily list of 30 words for him to practice spelling out in 90 seconds, leaving him “kind of nervous, but I knew I had prepared” once the big moment arrived.
In addition to studying with his father, Bruhat said he used SpellPundit, a popular tool among top spellers, and the dictionary to get ready for Scripps. He also worked with a spelling coach and practiced his vocabulary by making his own list of words to study, focusing on his trouble spots.
“I’ve worked really hard,” he said.
The 12-year-old said that while some people studied with music, in the company of others or while snacking, he said he preferred to do it alone in a quiet environment.
“Quality of studying is also important,” he said, noting that if someone studied for a lengthy time but didn’t have the focus required to learn the words, “there’s really no point.”
Bruhat was eliminated last year in the first round of the quarterfinals, tying for 74th place. “I was pretty disappointed by my performance, and I knew I had to work harder,” he said in a recorded interview that aired during the show.
But his failure to make the finals last year drove him to study even more for this year’s competition, Bruhat said on Friday morning.
“Instead of going down, I decided to be really motivated by that,” he said, adding, “so don’t be discouraged by failure.”
Bruhat went into Thursday’s competition with a goal in mind and the confidence that he knew what he was doing, because he had worked for it.
“I feel like working for it is the hardest part,” he said. “But I was able to do it because I really wanted that trophy, and now I finally have it.”
The 12-year-old also competed in 2022, when he tied for 163rd place.
Bruhat’s first word of the night was habitude, which means one’s “usual disposition or mode of behavior or procedure.” He steadily conquered words like Okvik, an Alaskan geographical name, and hoofddorp, a Dutch word, as the competition progressed in intensity and difficulty. He remained poised onstage, rarely seeming nervous and often thinking through the words by mock-typing out the letters in the air.
After his win, Bruhat was joined onstage by his parents and two siblings, who expressed pride and elation at his achievement.
In a recorded interview aired during the show, Bruhat — who is tall for his age — said that he also enjoys basketball. His favorite player is LeBron James, according to his bio on the Scripps National Spelling Bee website. He also enjoys reading, Ping-Pong and badminton, and he plays the snare drum in his middle school band.
While competing, his forehead was marked with a vermilion tika, a Hindu symbol of power and purity. His parents said that Bruhat memorized about 80 percent of the sacred Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita.
Now that he’s won, Bruhat is unable to compete again for the Scripps Cup, which means he gets to relax this summer, play some basketball and maybe go on vacation.
“I guess I’m done,” he said.
But the future looks bright for the newest champion speller. He said he hoped to be a doctor some day, but he’s not quite sure what kind.
“Probably in high school, I’m going to look at all the options and choose,” he said. For now, though, summer awaits.
Emily Schmall, Maggie Astor and Emmett Lindner contributed reporting.
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May 30, 2024, 10:58 p.m. ET
Aimee Ortiz
Here are a few key moments, and words, from this year’s Scripps spelling bee.
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The long road to a champion speller is littered with schwas and arcane words, but after 244 eliminations, there was finally a winner on Thursday: Bruhat Soma, a seventh grader from Tampa, Fla.
For many, the words are the star of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Here are a few key moments that helped shape the competition:
Desmotrope: a form of a chemical element related to another
The first word of the night took out the very first speller, Rishabh Saha, a 14-year-old from Merced, Calif., who used an A for the first O. Grace Walters, 22, a spelling bee coach and a recent graduate of Rice University, said in an interview that Saha “maybe overthought it because it’s the finals and he didn’t expect a word to follow the rules like that.”
Apophasis: the raising of an issue by claiming not to mention it (as in, “We won’t discuss his past crimes.”)
Kirsten Santos, this year’s only repeat finalist, was knocked out by the word, which has a hom*onym: “apophysis.” Kirsten, a 13-year-old from Katy, Texas, looked crestfallen when she heard the bell indicating that she had gotten the word wrong. Cole Shafer-Ray, 23, a former professional spelling bee coach, recent Yale University graduate and the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee runner-up, said the word was “one of the first words that’s as hard as a typical finals word. The fact that it’s a hom*onym makes it harder.”
Kanin: boiled rice
Shrey Parikh, a 12-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., was taken out by the word, which he spelled “kanan.” Dev Shah, 15, the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, said that “asking geographical words at a spelling bee is like spelling at a geography bee.”
Nicuri: a Brazilian palm
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Faizan Zaki, a 12-year-old from Plano, Texas, tore through this word without asking any questions and kicked the competition into an exciting spell-off, the second in the history of the bee.
May 30, 2024, 10:35 p.m. ET
Emily Schmall
Bruhat’s forehead was marked with a vermilion tika, a Hindu symbol of power and purity. His father said he had memorized 80 percent of the Hindu sacred text, the Bhagavad Gita.
May 30, 2024, 10:29 p.m. ET
Emily Schmall
Standing with his wife and daughters next to his spelling champion son, Bruhat’s father said in a television interview that it was “the proudest moment for the family.”
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May 30, 2024, 10:27 p.m. ET
Emily Schmall
Bruhat clearly was determined. He first competed at the national bee as a fifth-grader in 2022. That year, he tied for 163rd place. He rose up the ranks the following year, finishing tied for 74th place. This year, he held the trophy over his head, as the crowd roared with applause.
May 30, 2024, 10:26 p.m. ET
Emily Schmall
“I can’t describe it,” Bruhat said in a television interview on stage as the confetti rained down. “I’m still shaking.”
May 30, 2024, 10:21 p.m. ET
Emmett Lindner
As the confetti fell from the ceiling, Bruhat smiled wide and held the trophy high above his head. A Bee official said that he set a new record for the number of words correctly spelled during a spell-off; the winner of the only other spell-off in the bee’s history had 22 correct words.
May 30, 2024, 10:21 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Bruhat’s reaction at the moment he was declared the winner was a bit muted, almost like he was in shock — understandable! He smiled and shook Faizan’s hand.
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May 30, 2024, 10:15 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Bruhat’s spell-off performance was mesmerizing to watch. Twenty-nine words in 90 seconds, including such monsters as “heautophany,” “nachschläge” and “puszta.”
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May 30, 2024, 10:12 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
And the winner is… Bruhat Soma, with 29 correctly spelled words in 90 seconds! Faizan Zaki correctly spelled 20 words.
May 30, 2024, 10:11 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
One of the officials is now tormenting — I mean, complimenting — Faizan and Bruhat by talking about how awesome they are. I’m sure all they actually want is to know who won.
May 30, 2024, 10:08 p.m. ET
Emily Schmall
Before beginning, Faizan took a few deep breaths with his eyes closed, lifting his fingers to his face. He then raced through the words, stumbling a few times, but persevering until the 90 seconds were up.
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May 30, 2024, 10:08 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Faizan Zaki didn’t get as far down the list as Bruhat Soma did, but before we have a declaration of the winner, the judges have to confirm how many of the words each of them spelled correctly.
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May 30, 2024, 10:07 p.m. ET
Aimee Ortiz
Cole Shafer-Ray, a former spelling coach, said that a “bee that works like it should (where the best spellers generally win) hinges on having a read on what makes a word difficult.” He added: “This year’s competition has probably had the most examples ever of Scripps’ word selection reflecting blatant misunderstanding of word difficulty. I think if they ever want to fix this — which they should — they need to have former spellers pick the words. Recent ones.”
May 30, 2024, 10:07 p.m. ET
Aimee Ortiz
Shafer-Ray said that spell-offs are exciting, “but I think it should probably be a last resort, since it’s testing an entirely new skill.”
May 30, 2024, 10:05 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Bruhat Soma just BLAZED through about 30 words in an unbelievable performance. Faizan Zaki is up now, and he asks for and receives a few moments to take deep breaths.
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May 30, 2024, 10:05 p.m. ET
Alexandra E. Petri
Bruhat is like the runner in a race whose whole strategy is to hang back and then let it absolutely rip in the last mile.
May 30, 2024, 10:00 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Each speller will receive the same words in the same order. (The other person will of course be sequestered while the other spells, so they can’t hear it.) Whoever spells more of the words correctly in 90 seconds will win.
May 30, 2024, 9:59 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
We’re heading to a spell-off for only the second time in the history of the spelling bee! The two remaining contestants, Faizan Zaki and Bruhat Soma, will have to spell as many words as they can in a short period of time, rather than taking their time to spell a single one.
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May 30, 2024, 9:59 p.m. ET
Emily Schmall
The crowd goes wild, chanting, “Spell-off! Spell-off! Spell-off!”
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May 30, 2024, 9:58 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Wow, Faizan Zaki just instantly spelled “nicuri” after asking not a single question.
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May 30, 2024, 9:57 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Ananya Prassanna is out on “murrina,” a disease of Central American horses and mules, which she spells “marina.” We’re down to two.
May 30, 2024, 9:57 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Bruhat Soma correctly spells “hoofddorp,” a Dutch word.
May 30, 2024, 9:54 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Shrey Parikh is out, and we’re down to three. He covered his face with his hands and looked from side to side nervously as he thought and asked questions. The word was “kanin,” and he spelled it “kanan.”
May 30, 2024, 9:57 p.m. ET
Alexandra E. Petri
As Shrey walked off the stage, Faizan walked over and gave him a hug.
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May 30, 2024, 9:59 p.m. ET
Aimee Ortiz
Dev Shah, last year’s champion, said that tagalog words like to use “k” and that “personally, asking geographical words at a spelling bee is like spelling at a geography bee.”
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May 30, 2024, 9:46 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Ananya Prassanna correctly spells “tennesi,” which she seemed uncertain about, and she is clearly delighted. Next up is Faizan Zaki, who correctly spells a word with a hom*onym: “daena,” referring to “the moral life of humankind.”
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May 30, 2024, 9:43 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Bruhat Soma correctly spelled “Okvik,” from an Alaskan geographical name. He asked multiple times for the part of speech, an adjective, which could have misled him into ending the word with “ic” but didn’t.
May 30, 2024, 9:40 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Aditi Muthukumar’s word, Lillooet — “a Salishan people of the Fraser river valley in British Columbia” — also has no language of origin listed in the dictionary. She misspelled it “Lillowet,” and we’re down to four.
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May 30, 2024, 9:42 p.m. ET
Aimee Ortiz
Cole Shafer-Ray, a former spelling coach, noted that “it’s getting significantly more difficult now. These kids are impressive.” He added that Lillooet, which knocked out Aditi Muthukumar, "was probably the toughest so far.”
May 30, 2024, 9:42 p.m. ET
Alexandra E. Petri
She was visibly shaken at first, but left the stage smiling, flashing a heart sign with her hands.
May 30, 2024, 9:40 p.m. ET
Maggie Astor
Shrey Parikh gets a tricky one: “Jumano.” He asked for the language of origin twice, but it had none given in the dictionary. He got it right anyway.
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