■ South Africa was the top programming team in Africa, finishing ahead of Morocco, Nigeria, and Tunisia, in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) computer programming contest held in Tehran, Iran. South Africa was also the only African team to bring home IOI medals from Tehran. Curro Durbanville’s Grade 11 pupil Ralph Mc Dougall was one of the four team members. Ralph, who had just returned from the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) in Rio de Janeiro the previous week, said: “The IMO and IOI are great ways to challenge yourself with intense maths and programming problems. It was an amazing experience to represent my country on the world stage.” He could earn a place in the South African team to Japan in 2018. The first step for selection is round one of the South African Computer Programming Olympiad. This free, one-hour online contest runs at schools at any time in the week from Monday August 14 to Friday August 18. Enter the Programming Olympiad on www.olympiad.org.za, or contact the SA Computer Olympiad office on info@olympiad.org.za, or 021 448 7864. Pictured are team members, David Broodryk, Yaseen Mowzer, Bronson Rudner and Ralph Mc Dougall.