Kids Codebreaking Competition

THE School of Mathematics at The University of Manchester, where Alan Turing helped develop the earliest stored-program computers following his pioneering code-breaking work at Bletchley Park during WW2, is organising the competition to celebrate his centenary.

The competition is open to school children all over the country in years 7-11 and more than 70 teams from schools across the Northwest have already signed up.

Alan TuringEntrants must follow the story of Mike and Ellie – two children who get caught up in the search for the missing ‘Turing Treasure’ – solving a series of cryptographic challenges as they go.

Dr Charles Walkden, one of the organisers of the competition at the University, said: “You don't need to be an expert mathematician or a  programming whizz to take part, you just need to be good at problem solving and thinking logically. It's a great opportunity for children to solve mathematical puzzles in a fun way.”

Students should organise themselves into teams of a maximum of four people.  Teams should register on the competition website www.maths.manchester.ac.uk.

The prizes are:

1st prize: £150 in Amazon vouchers for each team member
2nd prize: £100 in Amazon vouchers for each team member
3rd prize: £75 in Amazon vouchers for each team member

The competition closes on Monday 16 April. There will be a prize-giving ceremony on Tuesday 12 June 2012 at The University of Manchester, prior to the public lecture on Alan Turing by Dr Andrew Hodges.

So, what are you waiting for? Get cracking and join in the fun.

The competition is part of the 2012 Alan Turing Year, celebrating the life and career of Alan Turing (www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012). This includes the Turing 100 international conference hosted by The University of Manchester. For more details about this visit www.turing100.manchester.ac.uk.

For further details about the competition, please see:www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/cryptography_competition_2012
or contact cryptography_competition@manchester.ac.uk.