Be the best at Microsoft Office and win a trip to America
A competition to find the best user of Microsoft Office in the UK and Ireland has been launched, with a grand prize of a trip to the US to compete for the world title and thousands of pounds.
The Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Four Nations Championship will pit teams of students from England, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales against each other to see who knows most about Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
The overall winners will travel to Disneyland in California to take part in the MOS World Championship Final, where they will compete to win a top prize of $7,000, a medal of achievement, a trophy, a certificate and other prizes provided by Microsoft.
“Microsoft UK is committed to supporting the education sector through a variety of Microsoft technologies and software, such as our office tools suite,” said Clare Riley, Group Manager of Education Relations at Microsoft UK. “The MOS Four Nations Championship recognises and rewards the hard work of the entrants – with a healthy dose of fun thrown in.”
The competition, run by Microsoft and training company Prodigy Learning, is open to students aged 13 to 22. Entrants will have to pass a test on Excel, PowerPoint and Word before they are invited to the MOS Four Nations Championship finals day at Microsoft’s UK headquarters in Reading next summer.
The students will then join teams based on which countries they come from to show off their Office skills in front of a panel of judges. The winning group will be handed the MOS Four Nations Project Award and win the trip to the world championships finals in July 2017.
Alfie Fuller-Burgess was the British champion for MOS in Word in 2015
A survey by Certiport, a certification company, found that 83% of employees use the knowledge and skills gained through the Office test often or all the time, while 88% of certified employees said passing the exam had made them more effective in their work.
“Digital skills, specifically Microsoft Office skills, are critical for today’s students,” said Andrew Flood, chief executive of Prodigy Learning. “The new MOS Four Nations Championship offers a unique opportunity for schools, colleges and universities across the UK and Ireland to challenge their students to prove (and improve) their skills. We are looking forward to seeing who has what it takes to be MOS champions and which nation has the strongest digital skills.”
Academic institutions interesting in taking part in the competition should visit www.moschampionship.co.uk for details.
