The British Informatics Olympiad is the computing competition for schools and colleges. We are proud to present BIO 2002, sponsored by Lionhead Studios.

Press release
14 April 2002
For immediate publication
BIO 2002 - the national computing competition for schools

Genius hunt in Cambridge bears fruit

Summary

This weekend 16 of the UK's top students battled it out in computer programming in the hallowed courts of Fitzwilliam College and Trinity College, Cambridge. The setting was the final of the British Informatics Olympiad - a challenging competition that brings together the finest students at schools and colleges nationwide. The four winners go on to try their skills at the Olympic games of computing, the prestigious International Olympiad in Informatics, hosted by Korea in August this year.

The BIO and the team's travel is made possible by the financial support of Lionhead Studios, the UK's leading videogames developer. The BIO is assisted and endorsed by e-competitions, which is supported by the DTI and DFEE.

Release

The 2002 British Informatics Olympiad began with a competition open to all schools and colleges around Britain. Students from about 80 schools took a 3 hour paper in which they faced tasks including counting in the Lojban language, shuffling cards, and creating numbers by only multiplying and adding.

At the final, held this weekend at Fitzwilliam College and Trinity College in Cambridge, their capabilities were really stretched with written problems on bubble memory and making computers generate humour, followed by programming tasks including saving the British film industry, organising team-building events, and dressage for pigeons. None of the students were able to solve all of the problems in the time available - though several got close.

The top four will form the British team for 2002. Accompanied by two team leaders, they will travel in August to represent Britain at the 14th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), this year held in Korea shortly after the world cup.

The team members are to be:

• Adam Bull, Roundhay School
• Adam Langley, Sir Thomas Rich's School
• Nick Krempel, Westminster School
• Paul Jefferys, Birkhamsted Collegiate School

Two reserves were also chosen:

• Giles Edkins, Hills Road Sixth Form College
• Radan Skoric, Forest School

The other finalists were:

• Adam Szmigin, Merchant Taylor's School
• Anil Kamath, Robert Gordon's College
• Gareth Conduit, Royal Grammar School, Guildford
• Gareth Williams, King Edward's School, Birmingham
• Henry Falconer, King Edward VI School, Chelmsford
• Robert Henderson, Leeds Grammar School
• Stuart Golodetz, Merchant Taylor's School
• Thomas de Rivaz, Haileybury School
• Tim Piper, Grittleston House School
• William Whistler, Bearwood College

Tim Rance, a director of Lionhead, said "We were very impressed with the extremely high standard of the all competitors and feel that a very strong team has been selected for the internation final. Lionhead is proud to be able to sponsor the BIO team and promote the excellence that exists at school level within the British computing fraternity."

The team are pictured below (from left to right): Adam Bull, Paul Jefferys, Adam Langley and Nick Krempel.

Further information

More information on the BIO may be obtained from:

Photographs

Copyright-free photographs of the team and finalists are available from the Chairman.

Internet resources

The BIO publishes a large amount of information on the Internet. For details of the BIO and related material, take a look at the BIO Index.

If you are publishing a link to the BIO website, please use the location http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/bio/

Background Information

The British Informatics Olympiad

The British Informatics Olympiad (BIO) is an annual competition in computer programming for students at secondary schools and sixth form/FE colleges. Any student who is under 19, in full time pre-university education and resident in mainland Britain, is eligible to take part and may win the prize of an expenses-paid trip to the prestigious International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).

The first stage of the BIO is a three-hour exam, taken at school, in which students solve problems with the aid of a computer. These are marked by a teacher and submitted for moderation. Based on the results of this exam, the top 15-20 competitors are invited to the BIO final in Cambridge, over the Easter holiday. The best four make up the team to represent Britain at the IOI.

Organisation and aims

The BIO is a non-profit making organisation founded in 1995, aiming to encourage students to take an active interest in information technology, to allow them to meet and exchange ideas, and to give the best the chance to compete at the annual International Olympiad in Informatics.

In order to make the BIO as inclusive as possible, it is free to enter. This can only be achieved thanks to the aid of commercial sponsorship. The 2002 British Informatics Olympiad is sponsored by Lionhead Studios, who are widely regarded as the leading videogames developer in the UK, in an industry where the UK leads the world. The company's first game, Black & White, won many awards including 2 BAFTAs and topped the charts with a concept that changed gaming forever. Lionhead and its three satellite developers are currently creating a new generation of innovative videogames for all the major platforms.