General

• The HKOI 2012 is divided into two groups, namely the Junior Group and Senior Group, according to the age of the participants. Students aged below 17 as at 1 August 2012 are eligible for the Junior Group whereas those aged below 20 as at 1 August 2012 are eligible for the Senior Group.
• Each secondary school in Hong Kong will be allowed to nominate up to 15 students, including 7 Senior Group nominees and 8 Junior Group nominees, to participate in the HKOI 2012. In order to encourage students with exceptional talent in problem solving and computer programming to challenge themselves at an early stage, 2 of the 8 Junior Group nominees must be students studying at S.3 or below. Schools with students who are members of the HKOI training team may choose to nominate this group of students through the school or the Hong Kong Association for Computer Education (HKACE). However students nominated through the HKACE would NOT be counted as members of the school team and hence their scores would not contribute to the school score.
• The HKOI 2012 will comprise a Heat Event and a Final Event. For each age group, about half of the participants or 70 of them whose results are better (whichever the less) will be selected for the Final Event.
• Questions will be available in both Chinese and English versions. Verbal instructions will be given in Cantonese. For participants who do not understand Cantonese, instructions in Putonghua or English will be provided on request.
• The questions will focus on basic algorithms, data structures and programming techniques.

Heat Event

• In the Heat Event, participants of both Junior and Senior Groups will have to complete a written paper. The duration will be one and a half hours.

Final Event

• In the Final Event, participants of both Groups will take a practical test. The duration will be three hours.

Workstation and Resources

• The programming languages used in the competition will be GNU Compiler Collection 3.X for C++ or Free Pascal. The organiser will supply the necessary system software.
• The organiser will provide all the hardware and software for the competition. Participants are not allowed to use any of their own resources in the competition.
• During the competition, participants are allowed to seek clarification on the wordings of the questions from the official judges through the web interface or by raising their hand. Should the condition deem necessary, the clarifications will be announced to all participants. Clarification related to the solution of questions will not be entertained.

Submission of Solutions

• Each participant should submit his/her solution source-code through a web interface. The submissions will be tested against one basic test case periodically and feedback will be provided (Pass, Wrong or Error). The last submission of each question shall be final. (Participants will be prompted five minutes before the end of the event.)

Adjudication

• The adjudicators will compile the source-codes submitted by participants, and then assess the compiled programs by testing them with a set of data unknown to the participants and a marking scheme to be determined by the Adjudication Panel.

Queries

• Any queries about the competition should reach the Chief Adjudicator immediately after the competition. The decision of the Adjudication Panel will be final.

Awards

• Only the performances of participants in the Final Event are counted towards awards.
• About half of the participants in the Final Event of the competition will be awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in the ratio of 1: 2: 3 approximately.
• The best contestant among the youngest 15% of all participants in the competition will be given the Best Young Contestant award.
• The best contestant among all the first-time participants in the competition will be given the Best First-Time Contestant award.
• Each Gold, Silver and Bronze medallist will be awarded 5, 2 and 1 point(s) respectively. The sum of points for all medallists in a school will constitute the school score. The three schools with the highest school scores will be awarded School Prizes.