Press Release | Certiport

Certiport News

Certiport Announces U.S. Qualifiers for Championship Round of Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office

Students from Reno, Nevada earn trip to compete for the title of “World Champ” against 44 other Country Champions during Certiport PATHWAYS HAWAII

SALT LAKE CITY — July 23, 2008

Certiport today announced Anthony Lewis, 17, and Justin Wainscott, 18,—both from Reno, Nevada—are the 2008 U.S. Champions for Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word, respectively. These Country Champions and more than 56,000 students from 47 countries participated in multiple rounds of local, national, and regional competitions in the Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office from October 2007 to May 2008. Both were awarded an all-expense-paid trip to vie for the title "World Champ" of Microsoft Word and Excel during Certiport PATHWAYS™ HAWAII international conference July 31 – August 2.

The U.S. qualifiers are excited for the chance to display the knowledge and skills they have developed. Justin Wainscott, the Word Country Champion, said he was most excited for the competition because it would give him an opportunity to match his skills with other competitors from around the world.

But the finalists are not just looking forward to visiting Hawaii—they also recognize the long-term benefits the Competition and credential will bring. "I believe that participating in the Competition will help with both my educational and occupational pursuits," said Anthony Lewis, the Excel Country Champion. "Anyone can say they have experience and skills, but receiving the certification and participating in this Competition prove that I have them."

In the upcoming final round of the Worldwide Competition only one Excel winner and one Word winner will earn the prestigious distinction of being World Champion. Both Champions will receive a trophy and a grand-prize package worth $6,500 USD. The package includes a Dell™ Notebook Computer with Windows Vista™ and Microsoft Office 2003, Pocket PC Phone with Microsoft® Windows Mobile™, Microsoft® Zune™ MP3 player, Microsoft® Xbox 360™ Console and Game Bundle, Microsoft® Learning Courseware, e-Learning, and Certification Bundle.

Country Champions of the Competition include:

Country Champions – Microsoft Word Country Champions – Microsoft Excel
Canada – Sarah Davies Canada – Jamie Fontane
China –Zhenhua Lu China – Jian Li
China – Mengjie Zhang China – Pin Lu
Costa Rica – Yariela Barquerotliranda Costa Rica – Carlos Moliva
El Salvador - Luis Ernesto Najarro Trejo France – Paul Marcon
Germany – Natalie Kurdes Greece – Fotios Papazafeiropoulos
Greece – George Lamprianidis Honduras – Carlos Chinchilla
Honduras - Maria Carolina Chinchilla Honduras – Carlos Chinchilla
Hong Kong - Chi Yuen Chan Ireland – John Oritz
Ireland – Koate Moran Japan – Manami Fujimoto
Japan - Yuko Ihara Korea – Yeon Ju Lee
Jordan – Haya Khirfan Korea – Bit Na Kwon
Korea – Chang Hyeon Yeo Mexico – William Suarez Mendel
Korea – Hye Meong Park Palestine – Amjad Abu Aysheh
Mexico – Paolo D'Amico Lopez Singapore - You Hock Tan
Palestine – Thabit Sabbah Singapore - Zi Yi Sharon Chan
Singapore - Yuan Jie Lim Taiwan - Li-Mei Weng
Singapore - Zi Yi Sharon Chan Taiwan - Kai-Chun Chang
Taiwan - Wen Che Tao Thailand – Penporn Koanantakool
Taiwan - Ching Ting Wei United Kingdom – Phillipa Dunlop
Thailand – Chawanat Nakasan USA - Anthony Lewis
United Kingdom – Martha Cattell  
USA – Justin Wainscott  

For more information about the 2008 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office, visit www.officecompetition.com.

About Certiport

Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, is the leading provider of certification exam development, delivery and program management services delivered through an expansive network of over 12,000 Certiport Authorized Testing Centers worldwide. Certiport manages a sophisticated portfolio of leading certification programs including: the official Microsoft Office Specialist certification program, the Microsoft Technology Associate certification program, the Microsoft Certified Educator program, the Adobe® Certified Associate certification program, the Adobe® Certified Expert program, the HP Accredited Technical Associate, the CompTIA Strata™ IT Fundamentals, the Autodesk Certified User certification program, the Intuit QuickBooks Certified User certification program, and the IC³ Digital Literacy certification. Certiport reliably delivers over three million tests each year throughout the secondary, post-secondary, workforce, and corporate technology markets in more than 148 countries and 27 languages worldwide. For more information, please visit www.certiport.com or follow Certiport on Twitter at www.twitter.com/certiport.

"Certiport" "IC³" and "MeasureUp" are registered trademarks of Certiport, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Press Contact:
Brenda Armstrong
1.801.602.0305
barmstrong@certiport.com