The champion gets a $50,000 cash prize from the Scripps National Spelling Bee and a $2,500 cash prize from Merriam-Webster. Those on 2nd, 3rd and 4th places get $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000, respectively. Indian-origin seventh-grader from Florida, Bruhat Soma, became the champion this year after he spelt 29 words correctly in 90 seconds in a tiebreaker.