Martin Kopchev is the big winner in the 22nd edition of the international programming competition CodeIT, organized by Musala Soft. Talents from the IT industry, official guests, partners from the educational and business fields, and many friends came together at the award ceremony following the final round of the tournament. The in-person final was hosted by Musala Soft while host of the ceremony was Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. The President of Republic of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, who is also the patron of the competition, delivered a congratulatory address to the participants.
“Our whole society appreciates the wins of our young programmers. The development of our economy in these challenging times depends a large deal exactly on the advances in technology”, shared the President of Republic of Bulgaria in his speech during the ceremony, and added that to get there we need experts with skills, and such skills can be acquired at competitions like CodeIT.
“CodeIT formed in the early days of Musala Soft and continues to this day. This indicates how important it is to us. Quality education is a priority for us and therefore we find it our mission to invest and support advances in better education and competitive programming. Both fields can shape ambition, zeal and competitive spirit, which are priceless in our business – the making of software products and services with a lot of added value, with growing requirements for creativity, innovation and work in an ever changing environment and market pressure”, shared Ms. Elena Marinova, President of Musala Soft. “What’s new this seasons is that we have 4 girls at the final, which is a delightful indicator for growing natural interest in the field of competitive programming, without any imposed quotas or separate programming challenges for them. Also, for the first time we have a participant from Kenya, which makes the list of countries that we reach close to 20.”
Final standings, CodeIT season 2021/2022:
1. Martin Kopchev – 12th grade, High School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics “Akademik Ivan Gyuzelev”, Gabrovo, Bulgaria
2. Andon Todorov – 12th grade, Sofia High School of Mathematics “Paisiy Hilendarski”, Sofia, Bulgaria
3. Denitsa Yankova – 11th grade, “Nancho Popovich” Natural Sciences High School, Shumen, Bulgaria
4. Duško Obradović – an Informatics teacher at “Veljko Petrovic” High School in Sombor, Serbia
5. Nemanja Majski – 10th grade, “Veljko Petrovic” High School in Sombor, Serbia
6. Rumen Mihov – 12th grade, Mathematics High School “Atanas Radev” in Yambol, Bulgaria; also student at “Shikovi” Academy
7. Veselin Georgiev – a contestant and a programmer who has started his own business in the area of IoT (Internet of Things) devices and data loggers
8. Niya Dimitrova – 11th grade, “Nancho Popovich” Natural Sciences High School, Shumen, Bulgaria
9. Vedran Bajić – 11th grade, “Veljko Petrovic” High School in Sombor, Serbia
10. Dobrin Bashev – a former student and current teacher at the competitive programming club at the High School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics “Akademik Ivan Gyuzelev”, Gabrovo, Bulgaria
11. Aleksandar Gubica – 10th grade, “Veljko Petrovic” High School in Sombor, Serbia
12. Georgi Petkov – 9th grade, High School of Mathematics “Dr Petar Beron”, Varna, Bulgaria
Junior standings:
1. Mihail Mihalev – 8th grade, High School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics “Akademik Ivan Gyuzelev”, Gabrovo, Bulgaria
2. Simona Hristova – 8th grade, Mathematics and Informatics concentration at “Nancho Popovich” Natural Sciences High School, Shumen, Bulgaria
3. Nermin Idiriz – 8th grade, Mathematics and Informatics concentration at “Nancho Popovich” Natural Sciences High School, Shumen, Bulgaria
4. Viktor Papazov – 8th grade, Mathematics and Informatics concentration at “Nancho Popovich” Natural Sciences High School, Shumen, Bulgaria
5. Martin Nedev – 8th grade, “Akademik Boyan Petkanchin” High School of Mathematics in Haskovo, Bulgaria
Denitsa Yankova, Niya Dimitrova, Simona Hristova, Nermin Idiriz and Viktor Papazov also attend the “A&B” Academy in Shumen, Bulgaria.
The winners were presented Certificates of accomplishment by Ms. Marieta Georgieva, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Ms. Dobrinka Blagoeva, Chief of Sofia Municipality Department of “Digitalization, Innovation and Investments”, as well as by the patrons of the rounds. The participants also received a congratulatory address by Ms. Yordanka Fandakova, Mayor of Sofia, who couldn’t attend the ceremony in person.
Since 2012 Musala Soft also invites a top-performer in competitive programming to be the “guru” of the final, whom the contestants meet and get the chance to gain valuable insights from. This year guru of the final was Mr. Hristo Venev (Bulgaria) – one of the most decorated IT talents in the world. Mr. Venev ranks 2nd in the all-time Hall of Fame at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). He is a recipient of multiple awards, the most major being 4 gold and 1 silver medals from IOI.
The honorary chairman of the jury of the tournament is Prof. Krassimir Manev – president of IOI between 2014-2017 and chairman of the Initiation Committee of the first European Junior Olympiad in Informatics (eJOI), which took place in Bulgaria in 2017.
We would like to thank our patrons and sponsors who provided the gifts for the final and supported us in making this season of CodeIT happen.
Sponsors: American Foundation for Bulgaria, Robotika Academy, Prestigio, Cougar Gaming, Brother, “Ciela” Publishing House, “Janet 45” Publishing, ERP Academy, JOY Optics, Grand Optics and ZEISS VISION CENTER, Musala Soft JSC, Speedy, Samsonite, Ubisoft Sofia, Hyperscience, Freckles Printing, “I Can – Here and Now”, WTC Interpred, Edoardo Miroglio.
Patrons: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Institute of Mathematics and Informatics (IMI-BAS), Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Technical University – Sofia and Faculty of Computer Systems and Technologies, “Angel Kanchev” University of Ruse, University “Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov” – Burgas, Sofia High School of Mathematics “Paisiy Hilendarski”, National High School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences “Academician Lyubomir Chakalov” – Sofia, “Baba Tonka” High School of Mathematics – Ruse, Profiled Mathematics and Natural Sciences Secondary School “Academician Nikola Obreshkov” – Burgas, Vocational School for Computer Programming and Innovation – Burgas, Technology School “Electronic Systems” – Sofia, Private “A&B” Academy – Shumen, “Shikovi” Academy – Yambol.
About CodeIT:
CodeIT was started in 2000 by Musala Soft as a national competition. Today CodeIT (https://codeit.bg/) brings together hundreds of participants from Bulgaria and around the world. In 2011 the tournament changed its format and each season is now divided in two parts – SPRINT rounds (5+3 problems) and MARATHON rounds (1 problem). There are 6 rounds in a season, all online. The best 12 contestants qualify for the grand final, which is in person. In season 2013/2014 the tournament became international and a separate Junior track was introduced for contestants 8th grade and below. This was an important step to attract young people to the fields of science and technology from an early age. The best 5 from the Junior track each season make it to the final where they compete in a separate ranking.
Since 2007 the tournament takes place under the patronage of the President of Republic of Bulgaria. Over the years this honor has been bestowed upon the competition by Georgi Parvanov, President of Republic of Bulgaria 2002-2012, Rosen Plevneliev, President of Republic of Bulgaria 2012-2017, and Rumen Radev, President of Republic of Bulgaria since 2017.
More than 2000 participants from 20+ countries have participated in CodeIT so far. Some places where we’ve had participants from include Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, Romania, Croatia, Ukraine, Armenia, Russia, Switzerland, Iran, India, Sweden, South Africa, Belgium, Norway, Finland, Ireland, Egypt and others. This year we had a contestant from Kenya for the first time.
Over the years more than 40 people have been part of the team behind CodeIT, which includes both competitors and olympians, in the so-called CSLab (Computer Science Lab) department of Musala Soft. They have prepared more than 370 problems in 22 years.
Our partners from government, academic, educational, science and business fields are more than 100, and the prizes we have awarded are more than 3000. Since 2012 Musala Soft invites a top-ranking competitive programmer as “guru” of the final to present an inspiring lecture to the contestants. We have welcomed many legendary competitive programmers as gurus, like Bruce Merry (South Africa), Przemysław Dębiak (Poland), Petr Mitrichev and Gleb Evstropov (Russia), Pascal Pons (France), Ivan Katanić (Croatia), Scott Wu (USA), Yuhao Du (China), Rumen Hristov and Hristo Venev (Bulgaria).
