IMO

History
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is an annual competition for secondary school students around the world. It was held every year since 1959 (except in 1980, because the host country, Mongolia, went into financial difficulty) and has been organised 41 times until July 2000.

Participation
Currently, each country/region may send a maximum of six students each year to participate in the contest. Contestants must not exceed 20 years of age at the day of the contest and they must not have studied at a university or an equivalent institution.

Format
Currently, participants have to sit for two days of contests, each lasting for 4.5 hours. On each day of the contest, there are 3 problems, each carrying 7 marks. The problems are mainly of essay type, and require deep thoughts and careful observations to solve.

Prizing
Prizes are awarded on an individual basis. Half of the contestants will be awarded medals, and the number of gold, silver and bronze medals will be made to the ratio 1:2:3, as closely as possible. An honourable mention is awarded to contestants who do not obtain a medal but score full mark in at least one problem. In addition, a special prize is awarded to contestants who present elegant solutions to the problems posed.

An example of a solution which was awarded a special prize