Students from 29 Countries Compete in Microsoft Word 2007, Microsoft Excel 2007, Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Excel 2010 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007

SAN DIEGO, CA (Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office) – August 2, 2011

Certiport, the official test delivery solution provider for the global workforce and academic markets, today announced the 2011 World Champions in Microsoft Excel, culminating the most popular technology skills competition on Microsoft Office to date.

The 2011 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office attracted more than 228,000 unique candidates from 57 countries who competed to demonstrate their mastery of Microsoft Office products. Seventy nine student finalists participated in the final round of competition.

The 2011 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office winners include:

• Clement Ng Chwin Chiat, Malaysia, Microsoft Word 2010
  
• Chen Xing, China, Microsoft Excel 2010
  
• Mizuki Terao, Japan, Microsoft Word 2007
  
• Rebecca Rickwood, England, Microsoft Excel 2007
  
• Liao Yu-Xuan, Taiwan, Microsoft PowerPoint 2007

Certiport recognized these top five student competitors at the Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office Student Awards Ceremony in San Diego, and presented each with a $5,000 scholarship.

"I am impressed by the caliber of students from all over the world who have learned advanced, certifiable Microsoft skills," said Takeshi Numoto, Corporate Vice President, Office Product Management Group, Microsoft Corp. "It was great to see so many students mastering Microsoft Office 2010. Office is used on more than one billion PCs worldwide, and these students who are deeply engaged in the product, which will help them realize increased productivity and efficiency as they use these desktop applications for school assignments and on the job."

This year’s contest marks the introduction of the 2010 Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Word and Excel exams, and also includes PowerPoint 2007 for the first time in the history of the competition.

"In its tenth year, the Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office continues to grow in popularity – we had a 49 percent increase in the number of students who participated from all over the world in 2011 compared to 2010," said Ray Kelly, CEO, Certiport. "We hold the competition to motivate and recognize students for mastering key technical skills that will help them excel in college and build their resume. I was very impressed by the winners, and holding the title of ‘World Champion’ will be a valuable asset as they continue in their professional lives."

In the concluding round, competitors participated in timed, unique tests to demonstrate their ability to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations for the information presented in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. This year, Certiport added a new component to the Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office. Each Word 2010 and Excel 2010 contestant was required to take the standard MOS exam, and was also asked to recreate an existing Word 2010 document or Excel 2010 workbook from a provided, printed example.

"Over 3.5 million people worldwide have taken one or more Microsoft Office Specialist exams to receive an objective validation of their skills with a performance-based test," said Lutz Ziob, General Manager, Microsoft Learning. "We worked with business leaders to understand what they expect their future employees to know when we developed the MOS exams, giving us a very well defined learning and certification solution. The Worldwide Competition is indicative of the popularity of the MOS program, and it gives students a badge of honor that guarantees to employers that they know what it takes to be successful with Microsoft products."

Next year, Certiport will host the 2012 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.