Dear educators,

Hello and welcome back (almost) to Term 1! A few updates about OzCLO, the Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad for Secondary Schools:

1. Training Day cancelled
   1. The training day that was scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 15 will NOT take place, unfortunately. There are still plenty of training resources available online, though; check outhttps://ozclo.org.au/training-materials/.
2. Registrations open until Feb. 24!
   1. Teachers should register themselves and their teams at https://www.ozclo.org.au/registration/.
   2. Registrations opened on Monday, Jan 16 and will close on Friday, February 24.
   3. The cost is $40 per team.

(The registration page says to contact your local organiser “if you wish to compete offline.” This only applies to Round 1; if you are able to do Round 1 online, then there is no need to contact anyone. Everyone is strongly encouraged to do Round 1 online.)

But what is OzCLO?: OzCLO is a problem-solving competition using data from real languages. It has been run by major universities around Australia since 2008.

Who is it for?: OzCLO is for students from years 7 to 12 (a larger range than in previous years! Hooray!). Participants apply logical thinking to discover how languages work. Students who like languages, maths, computers, or natural sciences are likely to be interested. No foreign-language abilities are required; students of all backgrounds are encouraged to participate.

When and where does OzCLO happen?: OzCLO takes place over two sessions.

1. Round 1, regional competition (for all competitors): 
   1. Wednesday, March 1, 2023
   2. 10:30 am – 1:30 pm. The first hour is prep time and the second two are for the competition itself.
   3. Online only; join from your own school campus 
2. Round 2, national competition (for six teams only):
   1. Wednesday, March 22, 2023
   2. Held in person on UWA campus:
      1. Bayliss building, room 215
      2. 9:00 am – noon

How it works: Teams consist of four students. Schools can enter as many teams as they wish. All teams complete the same tasks, but they are ranked within their age level: Junior (years 7-10) or Senior (years 11-12). Teams are usually all Junior or all Senior students, though you can certainly enter a mixed-level team if you want; mixed teams compete in the Senior category.

Round 1 (March 1) is the regional (i.e., state) competition. Because it is held online, your students can participate from your school under your supervision, no matter where your school is. The top three Junior and top three Senior teams from this round will go on to Round 2 (March 22), the national competition, which takes place on campus here at UWA.