EDUCATION | Local students crowned in global software contests

Three students, at high school and university level, have recently won prizes in two international competitions held in the U.S. Each of them said that they had never expected to win. “I was surprised when I heard my name,” was the response from all three.
However, they were in fact already champions, having won local software competitions organized by the Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Center (CPTTM) this May. Only five competitors stood out as prizewinners amongst more than 400 students from 39 schools.  The five in question were chosen to take part in a delegation that then went to Anaheim, CA, in the U.S. Whilst there, the students took part in the 2014 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship and the Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) World Championship, which were held concurrently from July 27 – 30. Three of the five students were then awarded international prizes.
Simon Cheong Wai Hang took first place in the ACA World Championship. “I started to use the software when I was in high school. At first I didn’t have a specific interest in it. But as I used it more frequently, it seemed [increasingly] interesting to me.”
During the Championship Round, contestants were assigned a poster design challenge, to which they then responded by using Adobe Photoshop CC, Adobe Illustrator CC and Adobe InDesign CC software. Students were judged on their creative and technical skills, as well as on their ability to receive and follow instructions and communications from the client. Cheong competed with 31 candidates in the final round.
“We were provided with some source materials such as pictures, and a brief introduction to the client. We needed to use our creativity and the software at hand to complete the task.” The competitive process was stressful, according to Cheong. “It took eight hours to finish the contest. Contestants sat so close to each other that we could see what other [contestants] were doing. I was under pressure when I observed others doing well, or [progressing] faster than I did.” Besides this pressure, the topic – loans and anti-poverty – was another challenge for him. “As people aged 20 or below, we don’t have a lot of knowledge about loans. So when I learned of the topic, I felt like I was going to lose.”
In his design, Cheong said that he tried to “move” and to persuade people via a less direct method – namely through storytelling.
As a graphic design student at the Macao Polytechnic Institute, Cheong is now a frequent user of the software. For the student, who aims to work in graphic design after graduation, having succeeded in the competition means a lot. “As a designer, winning international prizes is essential for proving your capabilities,” he explained.
16-year-old Keon Lo Kin Ian is now the champion in Excel 2010. Lo believes that his advantage in the contest was his carefulness. “They set some pitfalls in the test, which were not easy to pick up on,” he explained. After winning the award, Lo said that the software is only one of his interests. “I want to work in research in the field of physics in the future.”
“I met participants from [various] different parts of the world. They were selected from several dozen people in their [home] countries. They are excellent. On the other hand, we were selected by some 600 thousand people. I feel proud to have met them,” he said.
Lo is the first Macau student to win the Excel 2010 competition. He was happy to have represented Macau by winning the prize. “Macau is such a small place, but it took three out of the total seven champions.”
More than 120 student finalists from 41 different countries and regions participated in the final round of the competition. Last year, another Macau student was also a prizewinner in the competition.
In the final round, competitors participated in unique project-based tests in order to demonstrate their ability to create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations for the information presented in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
In its 13th year, the 2014 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship attracted more than 400,000 unique candidates from 130 countries, all of whom competed to demonstrate their mastery of Microsoft Office products. 123 student finalists participated in the final round of the competition.
Next year, the 2015 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship will be hosted in Dallas, Texas.

Grace Yu