The Ministry of Education announced Thursday evening that Romania took first place in the Balkan Olympiad in Informatics, scoring 1,963 points out of a possible 2,400, News.ro reported.

“Romania ranks first at the Balkan Informatics Olympiad with two gold, one silver and one bronze medals and a total score of 1,963 points out of a possible 2,400,” the Ministry of Education announced on Thursday evening.

The source said that the 30th Balkan Olympiad in Informatics will be held from October 29 to November 3 in Maribor, Slovenia.

“The Romanian team categorically dominated the competition, taking first place in the individual competition, as well as in the team competition, both in terms of medals and overall points. Michnia Andreescu, the winner of the competition with the maximum number of points, stands out among the four Romanian contestants. His performance is the culmination of his career as an Olympian in informatics, Michnia became a student this year and will continue his activities as a coach and member of the selection teams of the Romanian lotteries,” the Ministry of Education reports.

Also, according to the ministry, an outstanding performance was achieved by Mihai-Valeriu Voicu, who from last year’s gold medalist in Dorogaya at the Junior Balkaniad became this year’s gold medalist and winner of 2nd place and senior category.

Romania’s results were achieved thanks to:

• Gold medal: Mihnea Andreescu – graduate of the International High School of Informatics in Bucharest (1st place with the highest possible score)
• Gold medal: Mihai-Valeriu Voicu – student of the International Higher School of Informatics in Bucharest (2nd place in the ranking)
• Silver medal: Luca-Mihai Ilije – student of the International High School of Informatics in Bucharest
• Bronze medal: Vlad-Alexandru Haivas – student of the National College of Informatics “Tudor Vianu” from Bucharest.

The Romanian team was accompanied on the trip to Maribor by: Professor Adrian Panaete – Vice-President of the Society for Excellence and Efficiency in Informatics (SEPI) – Professor of the National College “AT Laurian” from Botosani as the team leader and Adrian Budau – Co-President of the “Infoarena” Society, member of the Steering Committee Society for Excellence and Efficiency in IT, as Deputy Head.

In the Maribor Balkans, Romania was also represented in the Scientific Committee by two more members of SEPI – Mr. Professor Ionel-Vasil Pitz-Rada from the Trajan National College in Drobeta-Turnu-Severin and PhD student Tamio-Wesa Nakajima from the University of Oxford.

At the General Assembly of the competition, at the proposal of the delegation from the Republic of Moldova, Mr. Adrian Panaete was elected a member of the International Committee of the Balkan Olympiad in Informatics.