The Swiss Olympiad in Informatics is a programming contest for young people under 20 years of age. Since 1992, the competition has been offering computer enthusiasts a platform to match their skills with others who share their interest. At the same time, the Swiss Olympiad in Informatics also elects the Swiss delegation for the International Olympiad in Informatics. It might just be you representing our country at the next international event while getting in touch with participants from over 80 countries around the world!
Participation is worthwhile:
- You learn a lot of interesting things about computer science.
- You meet a lot of people with similar or the same interests.
- You can win a free trip to a foreign country.
- You can participate in several events that are not solely about programming.
Rules
- You can participate if you have been born on 1. July 1998 or later and you are enrolled at a swiss school (high-school, vocational school, etc) located in Switzerland during the period September to December 2017.
- To participate, you need to register at the web page of SOI and set your status to Participant
- You must participate under your own name.
- Solve the tasks on your own. We strongly encourage you to study from books and internet but do not copy any solutions directly from these sources.
The contest year
- The first round: Everyone who satisfies the conditions of participations (see below), can participate in the first round and solve the tasks online from home. The first round starts on October 1st 2017 and ends on November 30st 2017. The six tasks are chosen to promote creativity and good ideas – prior knowledge in programming and algorithms is useful, but not required. You can find the tasks here.
- SOI Day: The SOI day on January 6, 2018 is an event in Zürich during which the results of the first round will be published. Furthermore, the tourney to find the winner of the creativity task will take place at SOI day. Finally, there will be gripping speeches on topics of Computer Science.
- SOI Training Camp in Ftan: The top 20 and four selected participants of the first round qualify for participation in the training camp in Ftan, where participants train on selected IOI-like tasks and visit interesting lectures. In the camp you meet other participants and you have a lot of fun (see pictures).
- The second round: The best participants of the first round qualify for the second round. Participation in the Training Camp is not mandatory for participation in the second round. The second round consists of two parts: There is an online contest, where you may solve four practical tasks in C, C++, Pascal und Python inside a time frame of 5 hours as well as a theoretical exam that takes place on-site in Zürich.
- The final round: The top 10 participants of the second round together with two selected by us are invited to the final round in Bern and Zürich. During the final round there are four practical programming contests that are held on two weekends in Bern and Zürich. In the finals and at IOI, you will not be allowed to use any language other than C, C++ or Pascal to solve the tasks.
The four best programmers from the final round travel to Japan to compete at the IOI 2018.
During the year there are often further opportunities: In the past the SOI sent the top participants of the Training Camp to a programming contest in Romania and the top four participants of the second round could participate in a training camp organized by the Slovak Olympiad in Informatics.
About us
What is the SOI?
The Swiss Olympiad in Informatics is the national qualification for participation in the IOI (the International Olympiad in Informatics). The SOI aims to train and select four participants to represent Switzerland at the International Olympiad in Informatics.
The SOI is mainly organized by former contestants in close collaboration with the Chair of Information Technology and Education and the ABZ - Informatikunterricht of ETH Zurich. But of course the realization of the event also depends largely on the generosity and cooperation of our partners. And last but not least, we work together with all the national scientific Olympiads of Switzerland to nourish the hunger of young people for science.
What is the IOI?
The International Olympiad in Informatics is one of five scientific olympiads, that are supported by UNESCO. Each year circa 300 participants from more than 80 different countries compete to take home a gold, silver or bronze medal. Apart from the contest, there are also excursions and other special events each year.