[cmath] 41ST CANADIAN MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD WINNERS

[Graham Wright]

NEWS RELEASE - May 14, 2009


41ST CANADIAN MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD WINNERS

OTTAWA, Ontario – Eight students receive top honours in the 41st 
Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO). The CMO, Canada’s premier 
mathematics competition, is organized and administered by the Canadian 
Mathematical Society (CMS).  A total of 81 students from 52 different 
schools (47 Canadian schools and 5 from outside Canada) wrote the 2009 
CMO, selected on the basis of their performance in the 2008 Sun Life 
Financial Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC) (November 19, 
2008), the CMS Correspondence Training Programme and other mathematics 
competitions. Students had to solve five difficult questions during 
the three-hour 2009 CMO examination held on March 25, 2009.

“The Canadian Mathematics Olympiad is a very important venue through 
which selected students from all across Canada have the opportunity to 
enhance and develop their problem solving skills and to significantly 
increase their mathematical knowledge.  Preparing for this competition 
takes a lot of dedication and hard work, I am very proud of all the 
students who have been part of this unique and wonderful experience, 
and I congratulate the winners of the 2009 Olympiad." said Dr. Kalle 
Karu, University of British Columbia, and Chair of the CMS Canadian 
Mathematical Olympiad Committee.

2009 Prize Winners:   The top winners in the 41st Canadian 
Mathematical Olympiad are:

FIRST PRIZE and the Sun Life Financial Cup – Jonathan Schneider, 
University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, ON; SECOND PRIZE – Danny Shi, 
Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary, AB; THIRD PRIZE – Jarno 
Sun, Western Canada High School, Calgary, AB; HONOURABLE MENTIONS were 
awarded to: Ahmad Abdi, Sabouhi Academy of Art & Design, Toronto, ON; 
Robin Cheng, Pinetree Secondary School, Coquitlam, BC; Nikita Lvov, 
Marianopolis College, Westmount, QC; Hunter Spink, Western Canada High 
School, Calgary, AB; Chen Sun, A.B. Lucas Secondary School, London, 
ON.

Over 8,200 students wrote the 2008 Sun Life Financial Canadian Open 
Mathematics Challenge (the Open) and the winners of the 2008 Open and 
the 2009 CMO will be honoured at the CMS Awards Banquet which will 
take place in the Festival Ballroom, South Campus Hall, University of 
Waterloo, on Thursday, June 11, 2009, from 5:15 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

“All of these winners have done extremely well in an extremely 
challenging competition. The students who participate in these 
competitions develop the creative problem-solving skills so valuable 
in today's competitive workplace.” said Dr. Graham Wright, Executive 
Director, Canadian Mathematical Society.

The Society is very grateful for the support received from Sun Life 
Financial; Alberta Learning; Department of Education (Manitoba), 
Department of Education (New Brunswick); the Department of Education 
(Newfoundland and Labrador); the Department of Education (Northwest 
Territories); the Department of Education  (Nova Scotia); the Ministry 
of Education (Ontario); the Department of Education (Saskatchewan); 
Nelson Thomson Learning; John Wiley and Sons Canada Ltd.; A.K. Peters 
Ltd.; Maplesoft; the Department of Mathematics, University of British 
Columbia; the Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto; the 
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa; the 
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Calgary; the 
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Regina; the 
Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, the Department of 
Mathematics and Statistics, York University; the Centre for Education 
in Mathematics and Computing, University of Waterloo; and the 
Department of Mathematics, Wilfrid Laurier University.

Problems, solutions and other contest information are available at:
www.cms.math.ca/Competitions/CMO/

For more information, contact:

Dr. Graham P. Wright
Canadian Mathematical Society Executive Director
director at cms.math.ca
(613) 733-2662, Ext. 713

or

Dr. Kalle Karu
Chair, CMS Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Committee
Department of Mathematics
University of British Columbia
karu at math.ubc.ca
(604) 822-4787