01/11/2022

Mathematics Olympiad awards more than 500 students

Among the more than 18 million young people, from 99.71% of Brazilian municipalities, who participated in the 15th Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP) , 579 had a spectacular performance and won the coveted gold medal. On November 7th, they will receive the honor at a ceremony in Salvador promoted by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA).

“It is a great joy to award the medals to the great winners of OBMEP 2019, after the delay imposed by the pandemic. The national awards ceremony is a wonderful, very emotional moment, in which merit is highlighted and what Brazil has best to offer is showcased: the talent of its young people,” said Marcelo Viana, Director-General of IMPA.

The ceremony awards the top performers among all participants in the Olympiad, which had over 54,000 schools registered, 49,000 of which are public institutions. In addition to the gold medals, the 15th OBMEP has already distributed 1,746 silver medals, 5,183 bronze medals, and 48,163 honorable mentions.

The OBMEP organization handles all the logistics of the event so that students from the 6th grade of elementary school onwards have a unique experience. During the event, IMPA researcher Milton Jara will give an inspiring lecture to the students. In addition, medalists will participate in various activities and a prize draw that will be held during the welcome dinner.

“The awards ceremony crowns the effort, dedication, and talent of hundreds of students awarded gold medals in the OBMEP. It is a moment of strong emotion and joy for the students and their families,” commented Claudio Landim, deputy director of IMPA and general coordinator of OBMEP.

Ceremony celebrates 15 years of the initiative.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not possible to hold the national ceremony in 2020 and 2021. The event on the 7th refers to the 15th edition of OBMEP, held in 2019. The ceremony will mark the 15th anniversary of OBMEP, which was created by IMPA in 2005, and will have a special program with tributes to important figures in the history of the competition.

About OBMEP

Created by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) and held with the support of the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM), the competition is promoted with resources from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and the Ministry of Education (MEC).

Aimed at students from the 6th grade of elementary school to the 3rd year of high school, OBMEP contributes to stimulating the study of Mathematics and identifying young talents in the discipline. Other objectives of the initiative are to promote social inclusion through the dissemination of knowledge and to contribute to improving the quality of basic education, enabling a greater number of Brazilian students to access quality teaching materials.