Press Release | Certiport

Certiport News

Microsoft PowerPoint Winner Tops 600,000 Participants Worldwide

DALLAS, TEXAS – August 17, 2015

Certiport's 2013 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship Certiport (www.certiport.com), a Pearson VUE business, the leading test delivery solution provider for the global workforce and academic markets, today announces Taweelap Suwatanapunkul of Thailand has been named the 2015 Microsoft Office Specialist World Champion in Microsoft PowerPoint 2013, culminating the most popular technology skills competition on Microsoft Office since its inception in 2002. 20-year old Taweelap was sponsored by ARIT Co., Ltd

In its 14th year, the 2015 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (MOSWC) attracted 600,000 unique candidates who competed to demonstrate their mastery of Microsoft Office products. 145 student finalists from 47 countries participated in the final round of competition.

The 2015 Microsoft Office Specialist World Champions in PowerPoint 2013 are:

  • First place, Taweelap Suwattanapunkul, Thailand
  • Second place, Andrew Parker, USA
  • Third place, Waqas Ali, Pakistan
  • Fourth place, Minsun Kim, Korea
  • Fifth place, Trevor Dean, Canada
  • Sixth place, Yun-Wei Wang, Taiwan
  • Seventh place, Samantha Kanyi, Ghana
  • Eight place, Yuqing Tian, China
  • Ninth place, Koji Yamazaki, Japan
  • Tenth place, Jakub Janous, Czech Republic

Certiport recognized the top Microsoft Word 2013 competitors at the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship Student Awards Ceremony at the Gaylord Texan Grapevine Resort in Dallas, Texas and presented the first, second and third place winners with scholarship money ($7,500, $3,750, and $1,500 respectively), a medal, a trophy and Microsoft products.

"More than 1.2 billion people use Office worldwide, and these students have taken the time to set themselves apart as the best of the best," said Alison Cunard, general manager of Learning Experiences at Microsoft. "Earning a Microsoft Office Specialist certification has already provided proof that they have the necessary skills to succeed in academics and the workforce. Winning the World Championship puts them in a class of their own, and we look forward to seeing how they put their Microsoft Office skills to use in the future."

In the concluding round, competitors participated in unique project-based tests to demonstrate their ability to create documents in Word.

"These winners are part of an elite group that know how to use Microsoft PowerPoint efficiently and to its full potential," said Aaron Osmond, vice president of the global Certiport offering for Pearson VUE. "We are proud to support this competition as a vehicle to promote what the world needs most – young people who possess in-demand workforce skills."

Next year, Certiport will host the 2016 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship in Orlando, Florida. Download high-resolution photos of the winners at flickr.com/photos/certiport/albums. View and download a professional video interview with Taweelap here. The event hashtag is #MOSWC.

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 13,000 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 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" and "IC³" 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:
Allison Yrungaray
Certiport
1.626.841.1640
Allison.Yrungaray@pearson.com