The 12-year-old Bruhat Soma became the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, taking home a $50,000 cash prize with his proud parents.
The seventh-grader Indian-American Bruhat from Florida won the title by defeating seven other finalists present on Thursday night. With that, he became the 28th Indian-American to hold the prestigious title.
The 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion is #Speller47 Bruhat Soma with 29 correct words. A BEEdazzling effort in our second-ever Spell-off by #Speller47 Bruhat Soma and #Speller207 Faizan Zaki, who correctly spelled 20 words in the Spell-off. #spellingbee pic.twitter.com/VKczNb0qmB
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2024
While Bruhat Soma made his way to victory by spelling 29 words correctly, his parents and two sisters cheered him from the audience.
Bruhat Soma parents said he has memorized about 80 percent of the Bhagavad Gita!
The Spelling Bee champ Bruhat Soma was born in 2012 to his father, Srinivas Soma, and mother, Jyothi Soma.
His parents are originally from the Southern Indian state of Telangana, and they moved to the US for better opportunities.
Besides their firstborn son, Bruhat, they have two daughters and currently reside in Tampa, Florida.
Looking at his father’s Facebook, Srinivas attended a local high school in Nalgonda and attended Osmania University.
Bruhat Soma wins Scripps National Spelling Bee after correctly spelling 29 words in 90 seconds. pic.twitter.com/vlJqw0GYev
— #RandyResistING Authoritarianism (@RandyResist) May 31, 2024
As per his LinkedIn profile, he further pursued his education at IIT Bombay, India, and currently works as a Software Engineer at Verizon Communications.
Meanwhile, not much information about Bruhat’s mother, Jyothi Soma, is available online.
Regardless, all of them were present at the Scripps National Spelling Bee finale to cheer their son and brother.
After Bruhat’s victory, his parents expressed immense pride. His mother, Jyoti, said that Bruhat has a sharp memory and has memorized 80 percent of the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture with at least 700 verses.
Additional Information
- Before becoming the champion, Bruhat Soma had previously competed and placed 163rd in 2022 and 74th in 2023.
- Bruhat surpassed the 12-year-old Faizan Zaki from Texas, whose parents are Zaki Anwar and Arshia Quadri.
- Interestingly, the name Bruhat is the name of Lord Vishnu, a Hindu god, and when loosely translated, it means extremely large or massive.
