Joint winners take out NZ Computer Society Cup

Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Joint winners take out NZ Computer Society Cup

For the first time in 13 years two top Massey University Information Technology (IT) students have been jointly awarded the prestigious New Zealand Computer Society Cup.

Ms Georgia Anderson, majoring in Information Technology, and Mr Jay Perera, majoring in Software Engineering, are this year’s joint winners of the New Zealand Computer Society Cup. It is awarded to the Albany IT student with the highest grade point average from the previous year.

The cups were presented by Professor in Information Technology Paul Watters. He says it was impossible to choose between both candidates as their scores were so close.

“Both Georgia and Jay had fantastically high GPAs, and it is a great pleasure to be able to present them each with a cup and a certificate.”

The Cup has been awarded annually at Massey University’s Albany campus since 1998. Over the years, there have been a few changes, including the name of the society — now known as the Institute of Information Technlogy Professionals — and the name of the computing major from Information Systems to Information Technology — but the criteria for the prize has remained the same.

Each recipient takes home a small cup and a certificate, and their names are engraved on the large cup. Their names also go on a poster featuring previous winners, which is displayed near the cup in the engineering building. Previous winners include Dr Teo Susnjak, who won in 2004 and now lectures in Information Technology at Albany, and Zeald co-founder Brent Kelly, who won the award in 2000.

Ms Anderson, from Albany, is currently looking for a full time graduate IT position and is in the process of completing a SQL Server course. Mr Perera, from Devonport, is concurrently studying a Masters of Management at Massey University and a Masters of Software Engineering at Auckland University. He hopes to carry on to complete a PhD in artificial intelligence.

Associate Professor in Information Technology David Parsons says good IT graduates are often snapped up by local firms and come back to talk to current students about their working environment.

“We give our students a good grounding in information technology — we cover all the important things that stand them in good stead when they go into the workforce — and it’s great to hear when they discover everything slots into place,” he says. “We also keep in contact with them, providing references and get some great feedback on their experience with us. It is also really rewarding to see students carry on with further study as this is such a rapidly changing field.”

ENDS

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