Certiport News
Microsoft Office Specialist World Champions Named in Washington, D.C.
Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word winners top a record 344,000 participants
WASHINGTON, DC (Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship) - August 6, 2013
Certiport (www.certiport.com), a Pearson VUE business, the leading test delivery solution provider for the global workforce and academic markets, today announced the 2013 Microsoft Office Specialist World Champions in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint, culminating the most popular technology skills competition on Microsoft Office since its inception in 2002.
The 2013 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship attracted more than 344,000 unique candidates from 90 countries who competed to demonstrate their mastery of Microsoft Office products. 100 student finalists participated in the final round of competition.
The 2013 Microsoft Office Specialist World Champions are:
- Ka Fai Wong, Macao, Word 2010
- Himal Shrestha, Nepal, Excel 2010
- Jiri Houzvicka, Czech Republic, PowerPoint 2010
- Kieran Youngman, United Kingdom, Word 2007
- Sicheng Wen, China, Excel 2007
- Chen Shu Mei, Taiwan, PowerPoint 2007
Certiport recognized the top six student competitors at the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship Student Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C. and presented each with a $5,000 scholarship.
"More than 650,000 exams were uploaded as part of this competition, so these student winners are truly the best of the best at effectively using Microsoft Office tools," said Alison Cunard, general manager for Microsoft Learning Experiences Group. "Students worldwide are realizing the benefits of mastering these key productivity skills as they prepare to enter the workforce. Learning industry-leading Microsoft programs helps them to be more productive on the job from day one and that is what employers are looking for today."
In the concluding round, competitors participated in unique project-based tests to demonstrate their ability to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations for the information presented in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
"In its 12th year, the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship continues to grow in popularity as more students around the world realize the value of earning an industry-recognized technology certification," said Jim Holm, executive vice president, Certiport. "This year we had a 24 percent increase in the number of participants, and more than 4 million individuals have now taken a Microsoft Specialist exam to validate their skills. Holding the World Champion title will stand out on their resumes as they continue their academic and professional careers."
Next year, Certiport will host the 2014 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship in Anaheim, CA, U.S. Download high-resolution photos of this year's winners, along with images of the student awards ceremony at:
www.flickr.com/photos/certiport.
About Certiport
Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, is the leading provider of certification exam development, delivery and program management services delivered through an expansive network of over 12,000 Certiport Authorized Testing Centers worldwide. Certiport manages a sophisticated portfolio of leading certification programs including: the official Microsoft Office Specialist certification program, the Microsoft Technology Associate certification program, the Microsoft Certified Educator program, the Adobe® Certified Associate certification program, the Adobe® Certified Expert program, the HP Accredited Technical Associate, the CompTIA Strata™ IT Fundamentals, the Autodesk Certified User certification program, the Intuit QuickBooks Certified User certification program, and the IC³ Digital Literacy certification. Certiport reliably delivers over three million tests each year throughout the secondary, post-secondary, workforce, and corporate technology markets in more than 148 countries and 27 languages worldwide. For more information, please visit www.certiport.com or follow Certiport on Twitter at www.twitter.com/certiport.
"Certiport," "IC³" and "MeasureUp" are registered trademarks of Certiport, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Press Contact:
Allison Yrungaray
Certiport
1.626.841.1640
allison@noticepr.com