12-year-old Florida native Bruhat Soma wins 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee in spell-off 2024 competition..
The sport of the brain: spelling.
Brush off the dictionaries and fasten the bifocals – it's officially "Bee Week."
Soma entered the 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee with three smaller spelling bee victories already under his belt in 2024, and the 12-year-old from St. Petersburg, Florida, won the big prize Thursday by defeating fellow 12-year-old Faizan Zaki in a spell-off.
- "My heart was pumping so fast when I realized I won," Soma said. "I had a good feeling I would win because I did pretty good, but yeah, you never know. I still couldn’t absorb the moment yet."
With organizers calling for a spell-off to determine a winner following 14 rounds over three days at the national championships, Soma spelled 29 words correctly in a 90-second span to best Zaki, who recorded 20 correct words.
For every one-hour practice session, Soma's spelling coach Sam Evans said, they would do three spell-offs.
Soma was ready for a spell-off. He was calm onstage. Every day, Soma said, his father used a program to pronounce words in 90-second sprints to emulate the spell-off.
“I really wanted all of this,” Soma said, “but you could never expect it.”
Soma will receive more than $50,000 cash in addition to other prizes for his victory.
Who is Bruhat Soma? 2024 National Spelling Bee winner 'knew all of my words'
For Soma, winning the Bee has been a goal of his since third grade. He bowed out in the quarterfinals last year and decided to “go hard” in the run-up to the 2024 Bee to make up for that performance.
Asked what the hardest word of the week he received was, he said: “I mean, to be fair, I knew all of my words. So I don’t really know.”
To help him spell out loud, Soma employs the strategy of "typing" with his left hand on an imaginary keyboard. He said he was strategic in choosing which sections to memorize – the ones he was most likely to hear at the Bee.
"His memory’s just so good and that certainly helps him with spelling," Evans said.
"I don’t know the entire dictionary," Soma said, "and I’m not even close to that."
Nonetheless, anybody can devote a few days or weeks to practicing spelling, Evans said. Soma's dedication was different.
When is the Scripps National Spelling Bee.?
The 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee returns to the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland with preliminary rounds beginning Tuesday and continuing Wednesday before a champion – champions? – is crowned Thursday night.
2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee Schedule, Times
All Times, ET
Tuesday: Preliminaries (rounds one and two), 8 a.m-4:10 p.m.; preliminaries (round three), 4:20-7:40 p.m.
Wednesday: Quarterfinals, 8 a.m.-12:45 p.m.; semifinals 2:30-6:30 p.m.
Thursday: Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals, 8-10 p.m., ION
How to watch, stream 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee on your iPhone, Android, tablet, computer or TV
The preliminaries, quarterfinals and semifinals can all be streamed on a variety of platforms: ION Plus, Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More and spellingbee.com. A special semifinals broadcast will air Wednesday from 8-10 p.m. ET on ION and Scripps News, as well as Bounce, Grit, ION Mystery, Laff and Defy TV.
The finals will air live in primetime on ION from 8-10 p.m. on Thursday, May 30.
Scripps reported its best ratings for a finals broadcast since 2012 with 6.1 million viewers last year, which was a 30% increase compared to 2022.
Where can you livestream 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee?
If you have these streaming platforms, you can watch ION Television by downloading the apps and loading them on your screen:
the CW
Freevee
Fubo TV
Roku Channel
Pluto TV
Tubi
YouTube TV
Google TV
how much does the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion will get, Prize Money.
All spellers are given one-year subscriptions to both Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online and Britannica Online Premium. Quarterfinalists receive a commemorative medal and a $100 gift card, while semifinalists receive a $500 gift card.
Prize money for the finalists, from the Bee, is awarded in the following order:
Finalist to 7th place - $2,000
6th place - $2,500
5th place - $5,000
4th place - $10,000
3rd place - $15,000
2nd place - $25,000
1st Place - $52,500
The winner receives:
- $50,000 cash (from Scripps)
- The Scripps Cup, the official championship trophy of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
- $2,500 cash and reference library from Encyclopedia Britannica (courtesy of Merriam-Webster)
- $400 of reference works, including a 1768 Encyclopedia Britannica Replica Set and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium (from Encyclopedia Britannica)
- $1,000 Scholastic Dollars to be donated to the school of the champion’s choice in their honor (from SugarBee Apple)
.....
Who won the 2023 National Spelling Bee?
Dev Shah, an eighth-grader from Largo, Florida, spelled "psammophile" correctly to win the 95th national Bee and the $50,000 prize on Thursday.
Shah, who attends Morgan Fitzgerald Middle School, previously competed in 2019 (tied for 51st place) and 2021 (tied for 76th place).
2022 Winner: Harini Logan, a 14-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, won the 2022 competition. The finals featured the first-ever spell-off, a 90-second tiebreaker to determine a champion.
.
What was winning word at 2024 Spelling Bee?
With the spell-off, there is no official winning word. Zaki spelled “nicuri” to force the spell-off after Soma correctly spelled “daena.”
Zaki asked for some time to take deep breaths before beginning his 90-second run.
Zaki is one of Soma's closest friends on the spelling circuit. The two shared a hug before head pronouncer Dr. Jacques Bailly read the results of the spell-off.
2023 Winning Words: The 14-year-old from Largo's winning word was "psammophile," a noun defined as an organism that prefers or thrives in sandy areas..
Who is the youngest speller bee champion?
Sanil Thorat (speller 91), a third grader from Fairfield Elementary Magnet School in Shreveport, Louisiana, is the only 8-year-old who made it to the national competition. There are five 9-year-olds spelling.
Who will win the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, Odds?
Shradha Rachamreddy (speller 13) tied for third place in last year's competition and is considered a front-runner heading into the week. Aryan Khedkar (speller 111) tied for fifth in 2023 and Tarini Nandakumar (speller 205), finished ninth. Sarah Fernandes (speller 131) tied for 10th place.
The contestants are representing 173 public schools, 32 private schools, 21 parochial schools and 12 charter schools. Seven are homeschooled.
___________
0 Comments