#ozclo

Are you a high school student who likes puzzles and/or language? Do you know one? 

We’re heading into the time of year to participate in one of many national linguistics olympiads! (Generally mid-Jan to mid-March)

Are you a high school student who likes language or logic puzzles? Do you know one who does? 

Check out the linguistics olympiads! No prior knowledge is assumed, and it’s a cool way to learn more about how languages work, meet other nerds, and potentially have something cool to put on your university application.  

The international competition is happening in July in Prague, but the national olympiads that qualify you for the international one are coming up very soon! 

North America - January 25

UK - February

Australia - March

Many other countries can be found on the International Linguistics Olympiad website, and if yours isn’t on there, they’re expanding every year and always open to new enthusiasts. 

To get a sense of what the linguistics olympiad is like, you can check out an archive of past problems and their solutions on the IOL website: 

This year's International Linguistics Olympiad was held in Manchester, England, from the 22nd to the 27th of July.

USA and Russia again took out the top two spots, with Poland coming third. It was pleasing to see that individual medalists came from a wide range of countries. Australian Martyna Judd from Queensland took home a bronze medal, congratulations Martyna!

It was also the first year that Australia sent two teams, with Queensland Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology and Murdoch College Western Australia representing. Check out some photos of the event here.

I love the start of the school year here in Australia, because it means it's not that long until OzCLO starts again!

The Australian Computational Linguistics Olympiad is a competition for Australian students in years 9-12 where they work as a group to solve puzzles involving different languages.

Victorian teams have won the nationals for the last three years and gone on to compete in the International Linguistics Olympiad in Stockholm, Pittsburgh and Ljubljana. This year the winners of the Australian competition will go to the IOL in Manchester, in the UK.