pa_AMT2011

AUSTRALIAN MATHEMATICS TRUST

MEDIA RELEASE
27 October 2011

Junior Singaporean Master Mathematicians Win Top Prizes
in Leading International Competition
 

A presentation ceremony will be held for the annual Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) on Thursday, 27 October at the Novotel Hotel, Clarke Quay, at 5.30pm. Australian High Commissioner to Singapore, HE Mr Doug Chester, will present awards to the AMC medallists.

Commencing in 1978 and held in Singapore every year since 1991, the AMC was one of the first competitions of its kind. It is now a truly international competition, having become the major school-based mathematics enrichment event and benchmark for mathematical ability throughout the Pacific and South East Asia.

Several hundred thousand students of all levels of ability from schools in 40 countries entered this year’s Competition. This included approximately 26,500 students from 145 primary and secondary schools in Singapore who sat the competition. Each year a number of AMC Medals are awarded to secondary level students for performances that are outstanding both within their state or country and overall in the competition.

In 2011 there are 77 AMC Medallists globally, 11 of them from Singapore as follows:

     * Denotes a Perfect Score

The special Peter O’Halloran Award for Excellence will be presented to those students above who achieved a perfect score. There will be 27 of these awards being presented worldwide in the secondary divisions this year, 8 of them to Singapore students.
 

The principal aim of the AMC is to make mathematics exciting and inspiring for both average and gifted students from Year 3 to Year 12 so they can explore it to the best of their ability and reach their full potential.

Professor Peter Taylor, Executive Director of the not-for-profit Australian Mathematics Trust that runs the AMC and a range of other mathematical enrichment programs, said, “The Australian Mathematics Competition is not just a test identifying talent, although it also does that and especially identifies problem-solving skills. The Australian Mathematics Trust has follow-up programs providing more enrichment, through the Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians, and further programs which can help students compete at higher levels.

Prizes are awarded to approximately one in every 300 students sitting the AMC in each year. In excess of 1000 prizes will be distributed amongst students in the 40 participating countries. In addition to the medallists, another 71 students will be presented with AMC Prize Awards and a total of 120 Prudence Awards will be presented to students in Singapore who achieved the highest number of consecutive correct responses in their school.

Local students who won prizes in the Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad (AIMO) and the Australian Informatics Competition (AIC), which are also conducted by the Trust, will receive their awards at this special ceremony together with the AMC medallists and award winners.

The AIC seeks to identify computer programming potential in students and this can lead to participation in other informatics events at a higher level. This year six Singapore students gained Awards for Excellence for a perfect score in the AIC and another 24 students will receive AIC High Distinction Awards.

The Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad (AIMO) is an Olympiad for students of Year 10 or under in which students from Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong participate. It is the culmination of a special three-stage enrichment program and a student may enter any or all of the stages.

Prize Awards for the AIMO will be presented to the seven Singapore students who all attained a perfect score.

The University of Canberra is Trustee and supporting sponsor of the Australian Mathematics Trust.