Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel and Minister of Education Dr. Yousry El-Gamal witnessed today the awards and closing ceremony of the sixth Egyptian Olympiad in Informatics (EOI).
 
The event was held at the headquarters of Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime (AAST) in Alexandria in the presence of the academy President Dr. Mohamed Farghaly. During the ceremony, Dr. Kamel and Dr. El-Gamal handed in the winners gold, silver and bronze medals.
 
A total of 100 contestants from 10 governorates participated in the competition held from 15-18 August, 2009. Competitors were selected from 1000 students from 16 governorates.
 
Meanwhile, the two ministers honored three members of the Egyptian team that took part in the International Olympiad of Informatics (IOI) held recently in Bulgaria. Ahmed Salem Ezzat, Omar El-Azzazi and Emad William won three bronze medals, which is an unprecedented achievement in the history of the Egyptian participation in IOI. 
 
The EOI is an annual competition in information technology and programming held since 2003 under the auspices of Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in cooperation with Ministry of Education and AAST.
 
The EOI aims at encouraging IT utilization among young people through a contest in different IT specialties. It helps discover the young IT talents and, in turn, prepare future human calibers to meet the increasing employment market needs of IT specialists.
 
In addition, the contest contributes to creating a generation of analytical thinkers and innovators. It also supports the participation of young people with special needs to further activate their role in the society.
 
Egypt has been annually participating in IOI. In the years 2005, 2006 and 2008, Egypt had realized recognized achievements in the contest.