On the 26th of April about 80 coders from Belarusian colleges simultaneously pressed the "open a problem" button to start All Belarus Programming Event sponsored by TopCoder. For a great deal of them it was their first competition with TopCoder and actually their ever first challenge of the kind. The challenge sites were set at two Minsk leading Computer Science universities - the Belarusian State University and the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics. The students from other Belarusian colleges were invited to compete at the BSU.

So who are the winners of the All Belarus Programming Event? The first place prize went to Chmel_Tolstiy. The second came HeaDacHe. MasterZerg turned out to be the third place finisher. And the best first time contestant in Belarus All College Programming Event is s-vladimir. All of them got their prizes and recognition.

Chmel_Tolstiy: "I find it really amazing that TopCoder is touring Eastern Europe. Even more amazing is that they've visited Belarus at last. It was great to meet some of the TopCoder people in person and they appeared to be very friendly and sociable, with an excellent sense of humor."

"For me Belarus All College Programming Event appeared to be a tough challenge I should say. I was really agitated especially in the last minutes of the challenge phase when I couldn't find a piece of code worth trying to challenge in my room. And HeaDacHe who was just a few points behind me needed only to make one successful attempt to win. So I got really excited when they announced the final results. When it's a special challenge like that it's even more frustrating to make a silly mistake and lose that at a regular SRM. Before the challenge I promised to myself that if I win I'll give the prize to my girl-friend so I managed to keep my promise."

"I'm also thankful to Belarusian universities that did a great job to make this event happen."

The most important outcome of the event is the new TopCoder members from Belarus. If you look up their profiles, you will see that most of the newbies went on with programming competition at SRM 347 a few days ago having colored their white TC handles. That's what is really awesome about the Belarus All College Programming Event.

The competition gets underway in Room 1 at BSU

Dr. Prof. Pavel Mandrik, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, addresses the contestants at the prize awards ceremony.

Post-competition pizza party reception at BSU

ivan_metelsky congratulates HeaDacHe

TopCoder College Tour Poster

First place winner Chmel_Tolstiy is congratulated by ivan_metelsky