![[BIO Logo]](../images/bio99-logo.gif){kind=logo}
the computing competition for schools and colleges.
BIO 2000 is sponsored by Data Connection.
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The British Informatics
Olympiad is the computing competition for schools and colleges. BIO 2000 is sponsored by Data Connection. |
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Press release
29 September 2000
For immediate publication
BIO 2000 - the national computing competition for schools
Medal success in Computing Olympiad
Summary
While Britain's athletes are at work in Sydney, our team has today won three medals in a different Olympiad - in computing - held this week in the Chinese capital, Beijing. Supported by computer technology company Data Connection, who sponsor both the team's travel and the national competition that selected them, the team of four were competing against 280 students from over 70 countries in the annual International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).
The medals are as follows. Thomas Barnet-Lamb, silver; Tom Garnett, bronze; Richard Smith, bronze. This builds on Britain's outstanding success in the IOI, where we have now won ten medals in the last three years.
Release
A team of four British students have spent this week in Beijing, representing Britain at the 12th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). Around 280 students competed in two gruelling days of tests. In these they had to write computer programs to solve complex problems with a strict time limit. The team travelled expenses-paid thanks to sponsorship by Data Connection, a world-leading computer technology company based in the UK.
The problems they faced included building digital sculptures, parking cars at the Great Wall of China, and building rural post offices. Outside the competition, the team were treated to cultural visits including the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall.
The students were selected in the 2000 British Informatics Olympiad. This competition is open to all schools and colleges around Britain. About 900 students took part. Presenting prizes to the winners of the BIO, Rebecca Rogers, Recruitment Manager at Data Connection, awarded the prizes. She said, "Data Connection is proud to sponsor BIO 2000. As one of the UK's most successful computer technology companies, we base our success on recruiting exceptionally talented people and training them to become world-class software developers, managers and marketeers. BIO 2000 has succeeded in attracting some of the country's brightest and best young computing students. The IOI team is a formidable collection of talent - exactly the sort of people we recruit as both pre-university and full-time employees."
The team members are:
Further information
More information on the BIO may be obtained from:
| Antony Rix Chairman, the British Informatics Olympiad Christ's College, Cambridge CB2 3BU Phone: 01223 410 780 or 01473 644 339. E-mail: (see contact details from home page) |
Gill Belshaw Data Connection Limited 100 Church Street, Enfield EN2 6BQ Phone: 020 8366 1177 Fax: 020 8363 2927 E-mail: http://www.dataconnection.com/ |
Photographs
Copyright-free photographs of the team and finalists are available from the Chairman.
Internet resources
The website of the 2000 International Olympiad in Informatics is: http://www.ioi2000.org.cn/
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/
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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 colleges. Any student who is under 19, in full time pre-university education and resident in mainland Britain, is eligible to take part and has the chance to 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 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. BIO 2000 is sponsored by Data Connection, one of the world's most successful computer technology companies. Founded in 1981, Data Connection now has over 200 employees. The company's outstanding success has been driven by a total commitment to quality and a high level of business generated overseas. Data Connection recruit world-class graduates, and offer pre-university work and vacation work to exceptional students.