SLIIT CodeFest 2013 attracts 73 teams

Wednesday, 13 November 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

CodeFest 2013, an event hosted by the Faculty of Computing of SLIIT is a unique initiative to provide a stage for programmers to frame their best code. The nationwide software competition which aims to harness student talent has emerged as the biggest coding event among school and university students in Sri Lanka.

The competitive battle among the participants made the competition intense and appealing. Along with the software competition and school-level quiz competition a mini-hackathon was also conducted simultaneously. A record breaking 51 school teams and 22 university teams participated in the preliminary rounds. While eight teams participated in the hackathon competition, forty school teams participated in the quiz competition. Winners of the school category for the best three projects were St. Peter’s College, Colombo, Hindu College, Jaffna and St. Anne’s College, Kurunegala. The winners walked away with Rs. 80,000, Rs. 60,000 and Rs. 40,000 for first, second and third places respectively. In the tertiary category of the software competition the GPS Body Guard from SLIIT, LocTip from University of Colombo School of Computing and Wata Pita Ads from SLIIT emerged first, second and third, securing Rs. 50,000, Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 20,000 respectively. “We realised that many school students have a keen interest in studying ICT but hardly have any opportunities to display their skills and talents in software development. SLIIT seeks to contribute towards propelling the country to become a knowledge hub by conducting competitions of this nature. “CodeFest is an ideal platform to promote the application of skills honed from ICT related modules taught in schools and with undergraduate studies towards problem solving skills and related areas,” noted SLIIT President and CEO Professor Lalith Gamage. “The large number of entries

shows us the enthusiasm students have in the field of Information Technology. The creativity, passion and drive students displayed were truly remarkable,” added SLIIT Faculty of Computing Dean Dr. Malitha Wijesundara. “We aim to organise CodeFest again next year and hope to groom more youngsters from all parts of the country,” concluded SLIIT CodeFest 2013 Coordinator Indraka Udayakumara Indraka Udayakumara. Strategic Alliances to this event were the Ministry of Education – ICT Branch and ICTA. Main sponsors of this event included Volume Ltd,

Cellcity Ltd. and IFS Ltd. Sheffield Hallam University, Virtusa Link Natural, LAUGFS Holdings, MIT, Zone 24, 99x Technologies and BOC also joined hands as other sponsors of this event.