OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Bruhat Soma is undefeated in his last three spelling bees. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * OXON HILL, Md.
(AP) — Bruhat Soma is undefeated in his last three spelling bees. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Bruhat Soma is undefeated in his last three spelling bees.
The 12-year-old won the Words of Wisdom bee hosted by Scott Remer, a former speller, coach and study guide author. He won the SpellPundit bee organized by that study guide company. And he won the first-ever online bee emceed by Dev Shah, last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee champion.
“He’s competitive,” said Bruhat’s coach, 16-year-old former speller Sam Evans. “I mean, he likes winning.” Bruhat, a seventh-grader from Tampa, Florida, will try to run his winning streak to four on Thursday night, when he competes for the National Spelling Bee title against seven other spellers, some of whom he vanquished in those other bees.
The winner receives a brightly painted trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. The number of finalists is the fewest since 2010, when Scripps had to stop a semifinal round out of fear it would bring too few spellers to the prime-time telecast, then on ABC. The bee is now broadcast on Ion — owned by Scripps, a Cincinnati-based media company — and when Wednesday’s last semifinal round had a lengthy delay after six of the firs.
