May 31, 2024 - News
Our Spelling Bee contestants
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California had the second-highest number of participants in this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee.
State of play: 17 Californians repped us in the 96th Spelling Bee championship, with two making it to last night's finals.
- 12-year-old Bruhat Soma from St. Petersburg, Florida, took home the victory after correctly spelling 29 words in a 90-second lightning round — nine more than runner-up Faizan Zaki of Dallas, Texas.
- Soma's winning word: "abseil," a verb that refers to descending via rappelling.
The big picture: California has had six champions since the spelling bee's start in 1925, when nine newspapers partnered up to host it.
- Our most recent winner, Rishik Gandhasri, hailed from San Francisco and took home the trophy in 2019.
Kudos to all the participants!