Zoran Ilijoski, a 14-year-old student from Kičevo, won a bronze medal at the 19th Junior Balkan Olympiad in Informatics, held in Sarajevo from 22 to 28 September. There were 55 competitors from 13 countries: ten member states and three guests - Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. The competition is for students up to 15.5 years old.

This is Ilijoski's third international medal this year. Earlier he took bronze at the Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad in Buzău, Romania, and bronze at the European Junior Olympiad in Informatics in Kaunas, Lithuania. His medals are coming from both maths and informatics.

The Macedonian team also included Jakov Grujovski and Ian Stevkov from Skopje and Panče Banskoliev from Strumica, who earned an honourable mention. The team was led by Blagojče Pavleski and Petar Kovačovski, students at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering (FINKI), and the delegation also included Prof. Dr. Mile Jovanov from FINKI, president of the BOI initiative.

With this result, the tally for Macedonian students at the international olympiads the Computer Society of Macedonia took part in this year stands at two silver and ten bronze medals and four honourable mentions. The olympic team is picked through a year-round cycle of competitions the Society has been running for 37 years, with support from FINKI and a few companies.

One comparison is worth making. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the olympiad was held under the general financial sponsorship of the state. Here, the cycle that discovers these kids is run by the Society with the support of one faculty and a few companies. How much of these medals is down to the state, and how much to enthusiasts? The next, 20th olympiad is next year in Greece.