Australians medal at international informatics Olympiad

Australia's informatics team have won three bronze medals at this year’s International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).

There were 89 countries and 351 students participating virtually in the prestigious competition that ran over two competition days.

Australia’s top placing went to James King from Brisbane School of Distance Education in Qld at 95th with a bronze medal. 

Bronze medals were also awarded to Evan Lin (placed 108th) from Melbourne High School, Vic and Joshua Chen (placed 170th) from Christ Church Grammar School, WA and Brynly Mitchell from Dickson College, ACT, placed 240th.

Each competition day, the participants are given three tasks to complete and must design algorithms to produce the correct output from a given data input. Points are awarded for producing the correct output, the efficiency and speed of the algorithm and creativity.

The Australian Maths Trust (AMT) CEO, Nathan Ford, congratulated the Australian team on their result and praised their dedicated effort in the lead-up to the international event.

“We’re so proud of each team member’s results and on behalf of the Trust, I congratulate them all for their ongoing commitment and persistence throughout their training and at the competition.

“The IOI is the top pre-tertiary competition in informatics and the team deserves to celebrate their achievement, particularly given the event’s virtual delivery due to COVID,” said Nathan.

AMT’s Olympiad programs are supported by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources through the Science Competitions: Mathematics and Informatics Olympiads grant opportunity. The Olympiad programs are also supported by the National Sponsor of the Australian Informatics and Mathematical Olympiads, Optiver.

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