2020 Alan Turing Cryptography Competition opens

The 2020 Alan Turing Cryptography Competition opens today (Monday, 27 January) at 4pm! 

Run by the Department of Mathematics, the competition is a great way for children to develop their mathematical and problem-solving skills while also having fun. The online competition, now in its ninth year, is open to secondary school children up to Year 11 (England and Wales), S4 (Scotland) and Year 12 (Northern Ireland).

Fantastic prizes are provided by Skyscanner, a flight search company set up by two former computer scientists from The University of Manchester - individuals who directly benefitted from Alan Turing's contributions to both Manchester and computing.

Entrants will follow the story of Mike and Ellie, two young cipher sleuths caught up in a cryptographic adventure 'The Tale of the Bouncing Bombe'. The first chapter will be released today at 4pm, with further chapters released every one to two weeks. There are six chapters in total (plus an epilogue).

Points are earned by cracking each code and submitting the answers; prizes will be awarded to the team that solves each chapter the fastest, while five spot prizes will also be chosen at random from all correct entries.

At the end of the competition the University will host the Alan Turing Cryptography Day, on 29 April 2020. You can register for the event from Saturday, 1 February 2020. Expect lots of codebreaking action, from a live cryptography challenge to a prize ceremony for the competition winners.

Please note, you can still register for the competition while it is running.

For more details, including how to register, please visit the competition's website.