The Samsung Collegiate Programming Cup (SCPC) provides an opportunity for college students aspiring to become programmers to advance their dreams by showcasing their honed skills. The 9th SCPC recently concluded its intense three-month competition and unveiled the “Best Programmer” among participants during the Metaverse awards ceremony held on September 23.

SCPC is Korea’s first and largest university-level programming competition, inaugurated in 2015 with the objective of expanding the software ecosystem and identifying outstanding talents. This event welcomes any college student passionate about programming to embrace the challenge, resulting in fierce competition, with over 34,000 college students participating to date.

9th SCPC contestants competing remotely

The competition opened for participation in June, followed by two preliminary rounds in July and August, and on September 16, the final round took place to determine the champion. Participants demonstrated their programming skills in this final showdown by remotely accessing the competition system through Samsung Electronics’ video conferencing solution and solving algorithmic challenges for approximately four hours.

As a result of the final competition, 38 college student programmers were selected as winners, earning a total prize of KRW 100 million. The awards ceremony was held in the Metaverse space, with the final competition’s contestants participating in the event through the unique avatars they created.

Final round contestants participating in the awards ceremony held in the metaverse

Kangtae Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D Strategy Team at Samsung Research, presenting a welcoming speech

In his welcoming speech, Kangtae Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D Strategy Team at Samsung Research, said, “SCPC stands as the largest algorithm competition in Korea for university students who dream of becoming software professionals, through which they can solve various problems to showcase their skills. I hope this competition will be etched in the memories of all participants as a valuable starting point toward developing their programming skills and preparing for the future.”

Professor SeongRyul Kim’s problem-solving mini talk time

During the mini-talk segment on problem-solving, Professor SeongRyul Kim at Konkuk University, who made the competition questions for the SCPC final round, remarked, “Despite the growing complexity of the competition, I was convinced that the future of the Korean software industry shines bright because of the participants’ enthusiasm and outstanding skills.”

In this year’s competition, Eunsoo Choe from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) emerged as the first-place winner with a prize of KRW 20 million. This victory marks a remarkable achievement for him, as he had previously won second place twice, starting with the 7th SCPC in 2021, before attaining first place in his third competition. The second prize was awarded to Junhyuk Song (KAIST) and Jaemin Park (Seoul National University), and each received KRW 10 million. All 38 winners will receive prizes and trophies and enjoy referential treatment in Samsung Electronics’ recruitment process.