From December 6 to 10, the finals of the competition “Ventspils IT Challenge 2021” took place, during which pupils from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia took up the challenge for the sixth year in a row to show their skills and knowledge in creative use of technologies. The theme of this year’s contest was “Try on IT profession” to encourage pupil’s interest in choosing their future profession in the field of ICT. The contest has concluded and the most successful teams in each group have been announced.
The contest finals ended with an online award ceremony which was broadcasted on the contest Facebook page. The winners were greeted by representatives of Ventspils Digital Centre, Ventspils City Council, “NOD Baltic”, “Start IT”, “TestDevLab”, “NGO Nuti-Võlur”, “National digital Coalition” and Lauris Reiniks. At the award ceremony, the huge cash prize fund was awarded, as well as additional contest prizes. The winners of the contest “Ventspils IT Challenge 2021” are:
- Group A (grade 1 to 3):
- 1st place: team “Datornūģi”, Laurenču sākumsskola (800 EUR);
- 2nd place: team “Elektrodžeki”, Krimuldas vidusskola (600 EUR);
- 3rd place: team “Datoriķes”, Rīgas Franču licejs (400 EUR);
- Jury choice award: team “Ņiprās pelītes”, Lībagu sākumsskola (200 EUR).
- Group B (grade 4 to 6):
- 1st place: team “Arvutiproffesionaalid”, Peetri Lasteaed-Põhikool, Estonia (1000 EUR);
- 2nd place: team “PTE”, Peetri Lasteaed-Põhikool, Estonia (800 EUR);
- 3rd place: team “D&M&Z&K”, Valmieras Viestura vidusskola, Latvia (600 EUR);
- Jury choice award: team “Three friends”, Lībagu sākumsskola, Latvia (400 EUR).
- Group C (grade 7 to 9):
- 1st place: team “Leib”, Miina Härma Gümnaasium, Estonia (1000 EUR);
- 2nd place: team “Goldingen Girls”, Kuldīgas Centra vidusskola, Latvia (800 EUR);
- 3rd place: team “C#”, Cēsu Valsts Ģimnāzija, Latvia (600 EUR);
- Jury choice award: team “VMG”, Väike-Maarja Gümnaasium, Estonia (400 EUR).
- Group D (grade 10 to 12):
- 1st place: team “tornozelos”, Ventspils Valsts 1. ģimnāzija, Latvia (1600 EUR);
- 2nd place: team “Spēlētāji”, Siguldas Valsts ģimnāzija, Latvia (1400 EUR);
- 3rd place: team “Master Engineers”, KTU inžinerijos licėjus, Lithuania (1200 EUR);
- Jury choice award: team “catgirls”, Rīgas Valsts 1. ģimnāzija, Latvia (600 EUR).
This year a cash prize of 500 EUR was also awarded to the most active school in each age group – a school from which the most teams applied for the contest:
- Group A: Valmieras sākumsskola;
- Group B: Peetri Lasteaed-Põhikool;
- Group C: Häädemeeste Secondary School;
- Group D: Pärnu Koidula Gümnaasium.
Before the final task, each team had a warm-up task – a Kahoot test, and the 1st place from each group was awarded a smart LED strip that can be controlled from a mobile app:
- Group A: team “KEG”;
- Group B: team “ARK_IT”;
- Group C: team “Leib”;
- Group D: team “catgirls”.
Teachers as well could test their knowledge in the contest prepared by “Start IT” in which they had to look for answers to various questions related to ICT. The cash prize of 150 EUR earned:
- Zane Neimane, Valmieras Viestura vidusskola, Latvia;
- Signe Reidla, Peetri Lasteaed-Põhikool, Surju Kool, Estonia;
- Vitnija Kokoreviča, Rīgas Franču licejs, Latvia;
- Almantas Raškauskas, Marijampolės JonoTotoraičio progymnasium, Lithuania.
This year there was also a social media challenge in which participants could earn cool prizes by sharing interesting photos and videos about how they prepare and complete the tasks and using hashtag #ventspilsitc2021 and tagging @ventspilsitc. The most active social media reporters were:
- @martins_p_ (Sony wireless earbuds);
- @piiiikiats (portable gaming console Nintendo Switch);
- @tornozelos_d6 (Oculus Quest virtual reality headset).
The team behind “Ventspils IT Challenge” thanks all pupils, teachers and schools for the active participation in the contest and invites them to take up the Ventspils IT Challenge also in 2022!
The contest “Ventspils IT Challenge” was organised by Ventspils Municipal Institution “Ventspils Digital Centre” with the support of Ventspils City Council.
Contest partners and informative supporters: Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA), education organisation MTÜ Nuti-Võlur, company “ESETLatvia”, IT education fund – Start(IT), Latvian Information and communications technology association (LIKTA), organisation “All Digital”, Skola2030, foundation “Iespējamā misija”, Ventspils City Council, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences and Ventspils educational government “Ventspils Izglītības pārvalde”.
