Bulgaria achieved a non-surprising success at the first European Junior Olympiad in Informatics eJOI, hosted in Sofia between 7 and 13 September 2017. Among the event initiators is Elena Marinova, President of Musala Soft and Chairman of the Development Board of the Natural Sciences Olympic Teams Association (NSOTA).
The best Bulgarian contestant is Martin Kopchev from Gabrovo – a gold medalist of eJOI. The Bulgarian contestants won another two silver and a bronze medal. The second Bulgarian team taking part in eJOI off the ranking, was awarded with three silver and a bronze medal. This again helped to establish the leading position of Bulgaria in competitive programming in the world.
At an official ceremony in the Aula of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” on the eve of September 12th, a total of 8 gold, 14 silver and 22 bronze medals to the most talented young programmers from the 22 participating countries members of the Council of Europe that took part in the contest.
Traditionally, Bulgaria performed great with the gold medal of martin Kopchev from Gabrovo. Silver medals from the first edition of eJOI won five of the Bulgarian conetants: Konstantin Kamenov from Sofia and Zahari Marinov from Pleven from the first Bulgarian team, as well as Marin Yordanov from Shumen, Dobrin Bashev from Gabrovo and Andon Todorov from Blagoevgrad from the second Bulgarian team. Bronze medals from eJOI were awarded to Georgi Petkov from Varna from the first Bulgarian team and to Victor Kozhuharov from Ruse from the second Bulgarian team.
Ranked first by number of points is the gold medalist of eJOI Nikoloz Birkadze (Georgia). Russia was the winner in the team ranking at the first edition of eJOI with a total of three gold medals for Ildar Gainullin, Egor Lifar and Aleksander Shekhovtsov.
The official closing ceremony of eJOI was attended by Prof. Dr. Anastas Gerdzhikov, Rector of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, host of the event, as well as by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Tomislav Donchev, many guests from the embassies of the participating countries, sponsors and friends.
A week has passed full of unforgettable emotions and new experiences for all participants in the first European Junior Olympiad in Informatics. Besides having the chance to benchmark their knowledge and skills in competitive programming with their mates aged up to 15 and a half years, the talented young people got acquainted with the cultural and historical heritage of Bulgaria by visiting some of the most prominent places of interest in the capital city of Sofia and the European cultural capital 2019 – Plovdiv. Together they became part of a milestone event in the area of information technologies.
The first European Junior Olympiad in Informatics eJOI was opened on September 8th at 5:00PM at an official ceremony in the Aula of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. During the ceremony, speeches were held by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev and Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, who are patrons of the event. Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, also a patron of the Olympiad, sent his regards to all participants, wishing them good luck in this founding contest. Keynote speeches we also held by Krassimir Valchev, Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria, and Mario Bakalov, a pilot of the biggest passenger aircraft in the world Airbus A380.
In each of the two contest days – September 9th and 11th – held in Forum “John Atanasoff” at Sofia Tech Park, the contestants had to solve three problems in informatics with the total number of points that they could possibly collect being 600 for both days. The results were followed in real time on the eJOI website. The most emotional moment of eJOI was at the very end of the contest at 1:00PM on September 11th when the system automatically terminated and the contestants met their team leaders for the first time, impatiently sharing impressions, success and disappointments. Arriving to greet them in person minutes after the finale was the President of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2012-2017 Rosen Plevneliev. He talked to the contestants and team leaders and was the first to congratulate the number one in the ranking, Nikoloz Birkadze from Georgia.
The initiators of the First European Junior Olympiad in Informatics, eJOI, are Prof. Krasimir Manev, President of the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), Biserka Yovcheva, CEO of A&B School of Informatics, Shumen, Bulgaria, Alexei Hristov, Chairman of the Board for the Association of Olympic Teams and Elena Marinova, Chairman of the Development Board for the Association of Olympic Teams and President of the software company Musala Soft.
The initiators and organizers of eJOI are thankful to everyone who supported and contributed to the successful first edition of eJOI!