Wellington Hosts Award Ceremony For NZ's Maths Winners

Wellington Hosts Award Ceremony for NZ’s Young Medallists in Top International Competition

A presentation ceremony will be held for the annual Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) on Thursday, 1 November at the Parliament Buildings, Wellington. The Hon. Hekia Parata, Minister of Education, will present AMC medals to the New Zealand medallists and local prize winners. Prize winning students, parents, teachers and guests will attend.

Several hundred thousand students of all levels of ability from schools in more than 40 countries entered this year's competition. This included approximately 20,000 students from 330 primary and secondary schools in New Zealand.

Prizes are awarded to approximately one in every 300 students sitting the AMC in each year. In excess of 900 prizes will be distributed amongst students in more than 40 participating countries. Five local students will be presented with AMC Prize Awards and a total of 15 Prudence Awards will be presented to students in the Wellington area who achieved the highest number of consecutive correct responses in their school.

Each year a number of AMC medals are awarded to secondary level students for performances that are outstanding both within their country and overall in the competition.

There are 70 AMC Medallists globally for 2012, and five of them are from New Zealand, as follows:

Name School Year Resides Edward Chen Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu 9 Palmerston North The Correspondence School Palmerston North

Christian Lee Scots College 9 Wellington Miramar, Wellington

Vanessa Guo Macleans College 11 Auckland Bucklands Beach, Auckland

George Han Westlake Boys High School 10 Auckland Takapuna, Auckland

Zuopeng Xiao Auckland International College 11 Auckland Blockhouse Bay, Auckland

Commencing in 1978 and held in New Zealand every year since 1979, the AMC is now a truly international competition, having become the major school-based mathematics enrichment event and benchmark for mathematical ability throughout the Pacific and South East Asia.

The principal aim of the AMC is to make mathematics exciting and inspiring for both average and gifted students from Year 4 to Year 13 so they can explore it to the best of their ability and reach their full potential. It is run by the not-for-profit Australian Mathematics Trust (AMT) under the Trusteeship of the University of Canberra.

Professor Peter Taylor, Executive Director of the Trust that also runs a range of other mathematical enrichment programs, said, "The AMC aims to show students how mathematics works in their world via problem solving using the skills taught in the classroom. It is also valuable for discovering talented students, such as those receiving prizes today, and exposing them to more advanced mathematical enrichment programs and the enhanced career opportunities maths opens up for them." The local prizewinners attend the following schools:

Feilding High School
Hutt International Boys' School
Hutt Valley High School
Naenae College
Newlands College
Palmerston North Boys High School
Queen Margaret College
Rathkeale College
Sacred Heart College
Samuel Marsden Collegiate School
Samuel Marsden Collegiate School Whitby
Scots College
St Patrick's College
St. Patrick's College Kilbirnie
Tawa College
The Correspondence School
Wairarapa College
Wellesley College

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