Beijing 2014

The 2014 International Linguistics Olympiad will be held in Beijing, China in late July. The competition is well known in the acaedmic world of linguistics, but the 2013 Manchester Olympiad was also covered by BBC Radio 4 and the UK national press (http://www.uklo.org/iol-2013). As this will be the first time that the Olympiad has been held outside of the US or Europe the event will attract even more attention in China. It would be fantastic for the Isle of Man to be able to send a team to this event, and more importantly, to do well in the competition. Because of the travel costs, we will only be able to send a team to this event if we can find sponsorship. We will have to raise enough money to take two team leaders and a team of four competitors. At previous olympiads other countries have been sponsored by large educational foundations, national governments and multinational companies such as Microsoft and Google. We are looking for sponsorship now, but cannot guarantee anything at this stage.  We will only send a team if we can find the right students. You are eligible if you are a sixth form student in full-time secondary education. If you are home schooled you are also welcome to apply, providing you meet the age requirements.  If you would like to take part in this competition you will need to sit a paper, set and marked by an international jury, to ensure you meet the standard required. You must be able to demonstrate that you are a mature and trustworthy person, capable of working in a team and of representing the Isle of Man well. You must also be willing to undergo some additional training in linguistics after the Summer exam period. If you are selected, and if we find the necessary sponsorship, you will have the opportunity of taking part in the trip of a lifetime and meeting some of the world's top young computational linguists. If you are interested, please contact us by January 31st 2014.