Samsung Electronics has announced the winners of the 10th Samsung Collegiate Programming Cup (SCPC). The competition, which began in July, concluded with an awards ceremony on September 7 after two preliminary rounds and the final round.

Samsung Electronics selected a total of 38 top programmers, ranking from first to fifth place. This year, Seoul National University (SNU)’s Seo-hyun Choi, who participated in the SCPC for the second time, claimed the top spot, while Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)’s Young-woo Park and SNU’s Min-cheol Park tied for second place. The finalists will receive a total prize of KRW 100 million and preferential hiring opportunities in Samsung Electronics.

Launched in 2015 by Samsung Electronics to expand the software ecosystem and discover talented individuals, SCPC is open to all college students interested in programming. With over 36,000 participants to date, it has firmly established itself as the nation’s undisputed largest programming contest.

All events of this year’s competition were conducted online. Participants were tasked to solve algorithm problems within a time limit using programming languages such as C, C++, and Java and submit their source codes.

The first preliminary round in July assessed participants’ fundamental algorithm techniques and implementation abilities, while the second round focused on their efficiency in implementation and optimization solutions. Participants who passed the preliminary rounds advanced to the finals, held in August, where they showcased their programming skills by tackling five problems, including “Time Travel,” which required finding the maximum distance one could travel based on given positions and limits; “Factory,” which involved calculating the maximum number of tasks in a given scenario; and “Connecting the Dots,” aimed at minimizing the number of intersecting lines.

After a two-month journey, the SCPC awards ceremony was held in the metaverse on September 7. The 38 finalists, recognized for their outstanding skills, created personalized avatars to attend the awards ceremony.

The awards ceremony also featured a mini–talk session on problem-solving. The awardees had a meaningful time listening to expert explanations on the final round problems, reflecting on new approaches and solutions to the challenging parts they faced during the competition. The explanation of the “Connecting the Dots” problem, which required generating ideas for problem-solving and examining all possible scenarios, elicited enthusiastic responses from the awardees.

“It is inspiring to see our country’s college students successfully tackle such complex tasks, which makes me optimistic about the future of software development in Korea,” said Professor Sung-Ryul Kim of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Konkuk University, who designed the final round problems.

“The SCPC is a platform where any student who is passionate about software can challenge themselves and grow,” said Kangtae Kim, Samsung Research’s Executive Vice President and Head of the R&D Strategy Team, at the awards ceremony. “I hope that all participants, including this year’s 38 awardees, will become leaders driving the future of software.”

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics operates a real-time coding site called “Codeground” to support the development of creative problem-solving and programming skills. Students preparing for SCPC, as well as those studying programming in general, can access various resources, such as program structures, algorithm techniques, and practice problems.