The North American Computational Linguistics Open competition (NACLO), formerly called the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad before January 1, 2020, is a computational linguistics competition for high school students in the United States and Canada that has been held since 2007. For the 2021 Open competition, approximately 1300 to 1400 students competed. Since 2008 the contest has consisted of two rounds, the second being administered to the top scorers in the first round. The top-scoring students on the second round qualify for the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL), one of the international science olympiads.
Since the mid-1960s, problem-solving competitions in linguistics for secondary school students have been taking place at various locations around the world. In Russia, the Moscow and St. Petersburg Linguistic Olympiads are credited with inspiring hundreds of young talented scholars to choose linguistics as an academic major and profession. Presently there are national contests in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and Africa, as well as North America. NACLO is part of a consortium that shares resources with other English-speaking contests such as the United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad, OzCLO (Australia) and the All-Ireland Linguistics Olympiad. There is also an International Linguistic Olympiad in which students from many countries compete, as well as dozens of local competitions held in individual towns and schools across Europe and the USA.
In 1998 the first US Linguistics Olympiad was held at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, in 1998. 18 students participated the first year, 88 participated the second year, and 67 participated the third year of this local pilot program. From 2001 to 2006, the program existed as an informal, web-based educational activity known as the Linguistics Challenge.
The two US teams in each year won several awards at the IOL in 2007 and 2008. Each year, one of the two US teams won a gold medal (or first diploma) in the team contest. In addition, several team members won individual medals.[1] [2]
In 2019, following a request from the US Olympic Committee that NACLO comply with the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 (aka the Ted Stevens Act), which grants exclusive rights of usage in the US of the words Olympic and Olympiad to the Olympic Committee, the contest agreed to change its name to the North American Computational Linguistics Open competition.[3]
The format of the contest changed significantly between 2007 and 2008. The 2007 contest consisted of eight problems given in a single round open to all participants. The 2008 competition consisted of two rounds. The first round was open to all contestants and consisted of a three-hour, five-problem written examination. The top scorers on the open round advanced to the invitational round, which was a five-hour, seven-problem written examination divided into two parts; the first part lasted 3 and a half hours and contained five problems, while the second part lasted one and a half hour and contained two problems.[4] The top eight scorers from the invitational round were selected to participate in the IOL. The booklets with problems and solutions are available on the main NACLO website.[5]
From 2007 to 2010 the USA sent two teams annually to the IOL.
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In 2011 the USA sent three teams, and Canada also sent a team.
| Country | Team | Name | Award | Team award | Team leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | "Red" | Aaron Klein | bronze medal | gold trophy, highest combined individual scores | Dragomir Radev |
| Wesley Jones | silver medal | ||||
| Duligur Ibeling | silver medal | ||||
| Morris Alper | gold medal, best solution to problem 2 | ||||
| "White" | Erik Andersen | honorable mention | |||
| Allen Yuan | silver medal | ||||
| Chelsea Voss | honorable mention | ||||
| Arjun Srinivasan | honorable mention | ||||
| "Blue" | Alexander Wade | silver medal, best solution to problem 4 | |||
| Ophir Lifshitz | honorable mention | ||||
| Caroline Ellison | honorable mention, best solution to problem 3 | ||||
| Rachel McEnroe | |||||
| Canada | Keunjae Go | Patrick Littell | |||
| Jordan Ho | |||||
| Daniel Mitropolsky | bronze medal | ||||
| William Zhang | honorable mention | ||||
From 2012 to 2016, the USA sent two teams annually, and Canada sent one team annually.
| Country | Team | Name | Award | Team Award | Team leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | "Red" | Darryl Wu | silver medal, best solution to problem 1 | 2nd highest combined individual scores | Dragomir Radev, Lori Levin |
| Anderson Wang | gold medal, best solution to problem 4 | ||||
| Samuel Zbarsky | honorable mention | ||||
| Allan Sadun | silver medal | ||||
| "Blue" | Alexander Wade | gold medal, best solution to problem 3, best solution to problem 5 | gold trophy, 3rd highest combined individual scores | ||
| Aaron Klein | silver medal | ||||
| Aidan Kaplan | |||||
| Erik Andersen | bronze medal | ||||
| Canada | Simon Huang | Patrick Littell | |||
| Keunjae Go | honorable mention | ||||
| David Penco | |||||
| Qin Long | |||||
| Country | Team | Name | Award | Team Award | Team leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | Red | Aaron Klein | silver medal | gold trophy, highest combined individual scores | Dragomir Radev, Lori Levin |
| Max Schindler | bronze medal | ||||
| Alexander Wade | gold medal | ||||
| Tom McCoy | bronze medal | ||||
| Blue | Rebecca Burks | honorable mention | |||
| Jeffrey Ling | silver medal | ||||
| Erik Andersen | honorable mention | ||||
| Simone Stoyen | |||||
| Canada | Jordan Ho | Patrick Littell | |||
| Janis Chang | |||||
| Daniel Lovsted | bronze medal | ||||
| Stella Lau | honorable mention | ||||
| Country | Team | Name | Award | Team Award | Team leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | "Red" | Darryl Wu | gold medal, 2nd place individual, best solution to problem 2 | gold trophy, highest combined individual scores | Dragomir Radev, Lori Levin |
| Jackie Bredenberg | honorable mention | ||||
| Alexander Babiak | silver medal | ||||
| Deven Lahoti | silver medal | ||||
| "Blue" | David Sokratov | honorable mention | |||
| James Bloxham | bronze medal | ||||
| Kevin Li | bronze medal | ||||
| Catherine Wu | silver medal, best solution to problem 4 | ||||
| Canada | Daniel Lovsted | gold medal, 3rd place individual | 2nd highest combined individual scores | Heather Newell | |
| Yan Huang | silver medal | ||||
| Simon Huang | bronze medal | ||||
| Minh-Tam Nguyen | honorable mention | ||||
| Country | Team | Name | Award | Team Award | Team leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | "Red" | James Bloxham | gold medal, 3rd place individual, best solution to problem 3 | silver trophy, highest combined individual scores | Dragomir Radev, Lori Levin |
| Conor Stuart-Roe | silver medal | ||||
| James Wedgwood | gold medal, 1st place individual, best solution to problem 5 | ||||
| Kevin Yang | gold medal | ||||
| "Blue" | Julian Gau | silver medal | 3rd highest combined individual scores | ||
| Kevin Q Li | honorable mention | ||||
| Kevin M Li | silver medal | ||||
| Nilai Sarda | bronze medal | ||||
| Canada | Ben Zhang | honorable mention | Pat Littell | ||
| Ella Bei | |||||
| Emma McLean | bronze medal | ||||
| James Hyett | honorable mention | ||||
| Country | Team | Name | Award | Team Award | Team leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | "Red" | Laurestine Irene Bradford | honorable mention | highest combined individual scores | Dragomir Radev, Aleka Blackwell |
| James Wedgwood | gold medal, 2nd place individual | ||||
| Erik Metz | silver medal | ||||
| Shuheng "Nelson" Niu | silver medal | ||||
| "Blue" | Margarita Misirpashayeva | silver medal | |||
| Wyatt R. Reeves | bronze medal | ||||
| Jenna LaFleur | honorable mention | ||||
| Siye "Annie" Zhu | bronze medal | ||||
| Canada | Kevin Sun | honorable mention, best solution to problem 1 | Heather Newell | ||
| Minh-Tam Nguyen | honorable mention | ||||
| Lawrence Pang | |||||
| James Hogan | honorable mention | ||||
| USA | "Red" | Brian Xiao | gold medal, best solution to problem 3 | Aleka Blackwell, Lori Levin, Dragomir Radev | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Tockman | silver medal | ||||
| Ziyan Lei | silver medal | ||||
| Siye Zhu | bronze medal | ||||
| "Blue" | Joseph Feffer | silver medal | |||
| Sonia Reilly | bronze medal | ||||
| Vanessa Hu | |||||
| Wesley Zhang | |||||
| Canada | "Castors" (French) | Antonin Benoit | Heather Newell, Daniel Lovsted | ||
| Corinne Soucy | |||||
| Georges Awaad | |||||
| Samuel Ouvrard | |||||
| "Moose" (English) | Gabriel Kammer | ||||
| James Hogan | |||||
| Jane Li | |||||
| Kevin Liang |
| USA | "Red" | Ethan A. Chi | silver medal | silver trophy | Aleka Blackwell, Lori Levin, Dragomir Radev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swapnil Garg | gold medal, best solution to problem 5 | ||||
| Andrew Tockman | gold medal, best solution to problem 1 | ||||
| Brian Xiao | bronze medal | ||||
| "Blue" | Russell Emerine | silver medal | gold trophy, highest combined individual scores | ||
| Pranav Krishna | gold medal | ||||
| Benjamin LaFond | gold medal | ||||
| Mihir Singhal | silver medal | ||||
| Canada | "Castors" (French) | Georges Awaad | Daniel Lovsted, Andrés Pablo Salanova, Gustavo Beritognolo | ||
| Yeryomin George | |||||
| Samson Nathan | |||||
| Corinne Soucy | |||||
| "Moose" (English) | Ken Jiang | bronze medal | |||
| Shuli Jones | honorable mention | ||||
| Nathan Kim | |||||
| Kevin Liang | bronze medal |
| USA | "Red" | Wesley Zhang | gold medal, best solution to problem 5, 2nd place individual | highest combined individual scores | Aleka Blackwell, Lori Levin, Dragomir Radev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Tockman | gold medal | ||||
| Ziyan Lei | silver medal | ||||
| Russell Emerine | silver medal | ||||
| "Blue" | Skyelar Raiti | silver medal | |||
| Pranav Krishna | silver medal | ||||
| Jeremy Zhou | silver medal | ||||
| Katherine He | honorable mention | ||||
| Canada | "Castors" (French) | Jonathan Deschênes | Patrick Littell, Andrés Pablo Salanova, Corinne Soucy | ||
| Geneviève Fournier | |||||
| Florence Lefebvre | |||||
| Ariel P. Soucy | |||||
| "Moose" (English) | Ken Jiang | gold medal, best solution to problem 1, 1st place individual | 3rd highest combined individual score | ||
| Tianqi Jiang | silver medal | ||||
| Nathan Kim | silver medal | ||||
| Zed Li | honorable mention |
| USA | "Red" | Jonathan Huang | gold medal | silver trophy | Aleka Blackwell, Lori Levin, Dragomir Radev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evelyn Sun | honorable mention | ||||
| Riley Kong | bronze medal | ||||
| Lydia Wang | |||||
| "Blue" | Jeremy Zhou | bronze medal | honorable mention | ||
| Adithya Ram Kalyanam | honorable mention | ||||
| Jonathan Song | bronze medal | ||||
| Benjamin Myer Neithardt | bronze medal | ||||
| Canada | "Castors" (French) | Bogdan-Alexandru Sava | Patrick Littell, Andrés Pablo Salanova, Corinne Soucy | ||
| Ariel Soucy | |||||
| Yiyuan Zhang | |||||
| Aron Szocs | |||||
| "Moose" (English) | Thomas Frith | bronze medal | |||
| Kunaal Chandrashekar | honorable mention | ||||
| Ellina Zhang | |||||
| Leo Tenenbaum |
| USA | "Red" | Benjamin Mcavoy-Bickford | silver medal | bronze trophy | Aleka Blackwell, Lori Levin, Dragomir Radev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luke Robitaille | gold medal | ||||
| Riley Kong | silver medal | ||||
| Rishab Parthasarathy | silver medal | ||||
| "Blue" | Arul Kolla | ||||
| Emmy Bonser | honorable mention | ||||
| Grant Wang | |||||
| Tapas Gobalakrishna | |||||
| Canada | "Castors" (French) | Bogdan Sava | Patrick Littell, Andrés Pablo Salanova, Corinne Soucy | ||
| Cédric Campeau | |||||
| Isabella Zhang | |||||
| Serine F Shin | |||||
| "Moose" (English) | Aidan Wang | bronze medal | |||
| Kevin Yan | bronze medal | ||||
| Kunaal Chandrashekar | silver medal | ||||
| Perry Dai |
| USA | "Red" | Arul Kolla | Bronze Medal | Silver Trophy | Aleka Blackwell, Lori Levin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deeraj Pothapragada | Silver Medal | ||||
| Grant Wang | |||||
| Darren Su | Bronze Medal | ||||
| "Blue" | Benjamin Yang | Bronze Medal | |||
| Soren Schmidt | Bronze Medal | ||||
| Jingyuan Li | Honorable Mention | ||||
| Mritika Senthil | |||||
| Canada | "Castors" (French) | Bogdan Sava | Silver Trophy | Patrick Littell, Andrés Pablo Salanova, Corinne Soucy | |
| Félix Von Veh | |||||
| Nina Geng | |||||
| Amelia Geng | |||||
| "Moose" (English) | Kunaal Chandrashekar | Gold Medal | |||
| Sukrith Velmineti | Silver Medal | ||||
| Perry Dai | Bronze Medal | ||||
| Victoria Li | Honorable Mention |
| USA | "Red" | Jonathan Sakunkoo | Lori Levin, Robin Hammer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deeraj Pothapragada | Gold Medal, 1st place individual | ||||
| Jonathan Ding | |||||
| Aaron Chai | |||||
| "Blue" | Kevin Wang | Honorable Mention | |||
| Devin Joe | Gold Medal, 2nd place individual | ||||
| Varin Sikka | Gold Medal | ||||
| Linus Law | |||||
| Canada | "Castors" (French) | Jonah Janzen | Corinne Soucy, Ken Jiang | ||
| Mingzhe Li | |||||
| Serine Shin | |||||
| Jade Diwan | |||||
| "Moose" (English) | Marvin Mao | Silver Medal | |||
| Aidan Wang | Honorable Mention | ||||
| Perry Dai | |||||
| Sophia Davis Morris |