Report from the Logical Olympiad Finals 2011

The competition was again under the patronage of Petr Tluchoř, Member of Parliament, to whom we owe many thanks. In his opening speech, he expressed his conviction that intelligence is really not a burden, and that being intelligent gives the participating children a great chance to succeed in life. He also wished all of the younger and older participants the best of luck and success in the competition.

Zuzana Poláková, who was in charge of PR within the team of organizers, announced the exact data: “This year, 32,300 pupils of primary schools and students of secondary schools in three categories took part in the competition. Those were gradually eliminated in the nomination and regional rounds”. The benches of the Parliament were then occupied by the best 197 competitors from the regional rounds, hence only the best of the best from the original great number could have experienced the visit to Parliament and the day full of competitions. “The winners of individual categories were rewarded with attractive prizes, including three laptops. Most importantly, however, we had prepared 11 sets of problems consisting of different types of tasks – from a written test, through screen-projected tasks that the competitors were to answer by pushing the buttons of the voting devices, or solving a ‘detective case’, up to putting words and pictures together where only the fastest competitor had the privilege of responding, said the Chairman of Mensa CR, Mr Tomáš Blumenstein.”

Who were the winners of the 2011 Logical Olympiad?

Category A – Primary School (1st to 5th Years)

• 1st place: Nora Prokešová, Primary School Dukelských hrdinů, Karlovy Vary
• 2nd place: Jan Kačenka, Primary School Tuchlovice
• 3rd place: Jan Brada, 14. Primary School in Pilsen

Category B – Lower Secondary Education

• 1st place: Filip Bialas, Grammar School Opatov, Prague
• 2nd place: Jan Petr, Jan Kepler’s Grammar School, Prague
• 3rd place: Petr Macháček, Grammar School of J.E: Purkyně, Strážnice

Category C – Upper Secondary Education

• 1st place: Radek Knapčok, Grammar School of Dr. Václav Šmejkal, Ústí nad Labem
• 2nd place: Daniel Kolář, Grammar School Dr. Václav Šmejkal, Ústí nad Labem
• 3rd place: Hana Pařízková, Grammar School Velké Meziříčí

Actually, all of the participants were winners; the children who set off for the competition at 4AM from Ostrava, those who went there directly from Prague, those who only tested their abilities in the nomination rounds, and those who progressed to the finals – all of them had the opportunity to experience something different, to test their logical thinking on other types of tasks than those they daily encounter in their day-to-day school education. The Logical Olympiad should also help the teachers to identify gifted children who are able to think outside the box, and who are capable of finding non-traditional solutions to problems.

The finals, just like the organization of the entire season of the Logical Olympiad, turned out well, and from the point of view of the competitors, everything ran smoothly. We therefore had a peek into the backstage area, and asked Zuzana Poláková again:

What changes have been made, compared to previous years? 

The most important change was the addition of Category B: Lower Secondary Education. Now, we can say that the competition indeed is a complex one, eligible for all age categories of pupils and students.

How many volunteers participated in organizing this year’s Logical Olympiad? How many helped right at the scene and how were their tasks distributed? 

The entire team of the Logical Olympiad organizers comprises over 120 people – the central organizing committee, regional co-ordinators, and others who participate in the preparation of the competition, of individual problems, of acquisition of sponsors or funding, and helping in the regional rounds. The finals in Parliament were overseen by 52 organizers, who were assigned to teams of respective co-ordinators – registration, supervision in the plenary hall, in the foyer, or in the gallery, the information desk, or preparing prizes. The biggest of all teams was the one evaluating the tests, as this must be done “on the fly”, so that we can announce the winners right after the last set of tasks. 

None of the usual major sponsors supported the competition this year. How was Mensa able to secure the financial support?

Financing was the biggest issue this year. In all, we secured over 50 sponsors, including grants from regions, cities, and other legal entities, as well as donations from individual Mensa members. The regional rounds were carried out with the financial support of the Region of South Bohemia, the Region of Karlovy Vary, towns and cities of Horní Slavkov, Cheb, Karlovy Vary, and Sokolov, the Region of Hradec Králové, the Vysočina Region, the Region of Liberec, of Olomouc, the Moravian-Silesian Region, the municipality of Prostějov and the Region of Pilsen. The regional round in Brno was performed under the patronage of the Mayor of the Statutory City of Brno.

We would like to thank indeed everyone who helped this competition, and helped to make sure it could take place this year too, and we were able to give valuable prizes to the best competitors in the regional rounds, as well as in the finals. 

What changes or improvements can both the participants and organizers look forward to in the next year?

Next year, we are planning to extend the nomination rounds to a week for each category, to make sure that the logical tasks of the nomination round can be solved by as many participants as possible.

Related topics

• Logical Olympiad
• News and reports from the Logical Olympiad

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