Tertiary students compete for IT contest championships
27 - 03 - 2001

About 150 teams formed by students from local tertiary education institutions will compete for the championships of the three competitions of the IT Contest 2001 launched today (March 27).

The IT Contest 2001 was jointly organised by the Information Technology Services Department (ITSD), the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) and the Hong Kong Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery.

At the launching ceremony of the contest today, the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Lau Kam-hung, said that the Government is committed to promoting a wider use of information technology (IT) in the community.

"The Government is dedicated to developing our tertiary students in Hong Kong as an important asset for the future. Students are also targets for our promotion of the use of IT," said Mr Lau.

"This explains why the ITSD has initiated and sponsors the IT Contest 2001, which is aimed at elevating the awareness and knowledge of IT among tertiary students and the public in Hong Kong," he added.

The IT Contest 2001 is open to all undergraduates and higher diploma students from all the nine tertiary institutions in Hong Kong.

It is comprised of three component competitions: the IT Quiz, the Collegiate Programming Competition and the Practical Project Competition.

About 70 teams will compete in the first round of the IT Quiz held in the HKPU.

Amongst them, 10 teams with the highest scores will proceed to the semi-final competition and eventually five teams will compete for the champion in the final round competition on June 11 when the prize presentation ceremony of the IT Contest 2001 will also be held.

The Collegiate Programming Competition is an annual international event providing students majoring in IT and engineering with opportunities to demonstrate and sharpen their problem-solving and computing skills.

The ITSD was one of the organisers of the Asia Regional Computing Contest, Hong Kong, last year.

More than 20 participating teams of the Collegiate Programming Competition will compete on June 2. The top-scoring team will then represent Hong Kong to compete in the Asia Regional Contest to be held this autumn.

Participants of the Practical Project Competition are required to submit before May 2 full description of their projects, which should be applications of IT with practical values in daily life.

Ten finalists will give oral presentations to the judges on June 2 when the winner will be selected.

Each of the three champion teams in the IT Contest 2001 will be awarded with $20,000 in cash and other attractive prizes.

More information on the IT Contest 2001 is available at the web site at <http://itcontest2001.polyu.edu.hk/>.

- ENDS -