Nigerian pupil is sole African winner at Microsoft world championship

Katherine Eta of Childville School, Ogudu, Lagos, has emerged the third place winner in the 2017 Microsoft Office specialist world championship (MOSWC) held in Disneyland, California, USA.

Katherine was the only African champion in this year’s competition.

Zenith Bank said in Lagos on Thursday that the girl’s attendance at the championship was with its support.

“The bank has partnered with ReadAmana, organisers of the competition in Nigeria since 2007 and sponsored Nigerian winners’ participation in the World championship.

“For her effort, sixteen year old Katherine, whose attendance at the competition was made possible by Zenith Bank, received $1,500, a NuVision Solo 10 Draw Tablet at the world championship and another N750,000 ReadManna Chairman’s Prize.

“Wai Feng Cheng (Hong Kong) and Chi Kei Leong (Macao) came first and second respectively.”

The annual Microsoft office specialist world championship is a global competition that tests student’s skills in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Apart from Katherine, four other Nigerian students represented Nigeria at the competition which is open to all students aged between 13 and 22 years enrolled in an academic institution.

The team was accompanied to the championship by an ICT teacher from Glisten International Academy, Abuja, Stephen Adeyemi.

The 2017 MOSWC in versions 2013 and 2016 of the Microsoft programs was contested worldwide by about 1.1 million students from 140 countries. 157 students from 50 countries eventually qualified to compete in the world finals in Disneyland, California.

This year’s championship was held over a period of seven months from April 30 to August 1 with about 882 entries from 20 secondary schools in Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Kwara and the FCT.

The competition ended with 112 out of the 161 students shortlisted for the national competiiton certified in Microsoft Excel, Power Point and Word.