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2023 Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) World Championship
The winners of the 2023 Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) World Championship have been announced by Certiport, the leading provider of performance-based IT certification exams that accelerate academic and career opportunities for learners.
The annual competition challenges students from ages 13 through 22 to prove their skills in Microsoft Word, Excel®, and PowerPoint®. Now in its 21st year, this year’s competition – the only one endorsed by Microsoft since its inception in 2002 – attracted more than 1.3 million entries from around the world.
To enter, students took a qualifying Microsoft Office Specialist certification exam to demonstrate their mastery of Microsoft Office technology. Regional competitions were held worldwide, and 133 finalists qualified to compete in the final round of competition held in Orlando, Florida from July 31 – August 2, 2023.
The 2023 MOS World Champions are:
Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019)
• First place: Chan Wai Wong, Macau, China
• Second place: Cheng-Yan Wu, Taiwan
• Third place: Thuy Linh Hoang, Vietnam
Microsoft PowerPoint® (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019)
• First place: Lucie DorňákováCert, Czech Republic
• Second place: Ana Guo, Macau, China
• Third place: Ching-Chi Tsao, Taiwan
Microsoft Excel® (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019)
• First place: Yuxiang Lin, Macau, China
• Second place: Jamie Kildea, Ireland
• Third place: Songglod Petchamras, Thailand
Microsoft Word (Office 2016)
• First place: Bing-Hong Chen, Taiwan
• Second place: Chi Kuan Tan, Macau, China
• Third place: Thi Minh Anh Dang, Vietnam
Microsoft PowerPoint® (Office 2016)
• First place: Man-Him Law, Hong Kong, China
• Second place: Noppanat Chalouy, Thailand
• Third place: Celia Cole, USA
Microsoft Excel® (Office 2016)
• First place: Sora Takaya, Japan
• Second place: Thi Thanh Truc Nguyen, Vietnam
• Third place: O-Man Wong, Hong Kong, China
In the concluding round, competitors participated in a 100-minute exam that tested their knowledge, application skills, and creative talents. For the second consecutive year, finalists were required to complete a free-form project. This year’s challenge asked competitors to create an informational document for a non-profit client.
At the final event in Florida, Certiport and Microsoft recognized the top student competitors in the MOS World Championship Awards Ceremony and presented each First-place winner with an $8,000 cash prize. The Second-place and Third-place honorees received $4,000 and $2,000, respectively.
“This year marks 21 years since the Microsoft Office Specialist competition began in 2002. We are exceptionally proud of what we have managed to achieve, through our partners around the world, in providing young people with a platform such as this to learn, compete, and gain valuable skills that will help them in their future careers,” said Craig Bushman, General Manager, Certiport.
Microsoft Office Specialist is the only official Microsoft-recognized certification for Microsoft Office globally and serves as a powerful instrument for assessing learners’ skills and preparing them for real-world application of their knowledge.
“For over two decades, the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship has recognized the top students using Microsoft Office from across the globe. These students are passionate and dedicated learners who have the skills and competitive drive to succeed. At Microsoft, we know this experience will prepare students to demonstrate their valued digital skills in a real-world work environment,” said Christian Wylde, Principal Group Manager, Microsoft Worldwide Learning.
2023 Adobe Certified Professional World Championship
Certiport has named the USA as the 2023 Adobe Certified Professional World Champion. Second place goes to Bulgaria and Third place to Brazil in a digital design competition that attracted nearly 54,000 competitors.
The winners of the 2023 Certiport’s Adobe Certified Professional World Championship have been announced by Certiport, the leading provider of performance-based IT certification exams that accelerate academic and career opportunities for learners.
The annual competition challenges contestants from around the world to prove their superior digital design skills using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Now in its 10th year, this year’s competition attracted more than 53,000 participants. Kayla Crossen-Zawila from the USA won the top prize out of 44 finalists who came together from July 31 – August 2, 2023, for the final round.
The 2023 Adobe Certified Professional World Champions are as follows:
• First place, Kayla Crossen-Zawila, USA
• Second place, Boris Savov, Bulgaria
• Third place, Egberto Oliveira, Brazil
• Fourth place, Mariam Baghaturia, Georgia
• Fifth place, Marco Antonio Arguello Jarrin, Ecuador
• Sixth place, Andrew Jarnac, USA
• Seventh place, Muhammad Abal Hakim Bin Abal Mukam, Malaysia
• Eighth place, Minh Tra Bui, Vietnam
• Ninth place, Alexia Borcoman, United Kingdom
• Tenth place, Sio Kuan Lei, Macau, China
Finalists demonstrated their proficiency using industry-leading Adobe Creative Cloud software to design a poster for a real-world client, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), in less than eight hours.
“At the IRC, we were thrilled to partner with Certiport and Adobe for Certiport’s 2023 Adobe Certified Professional World Championship. This event has given us an opportunity to engage young people in our mission to help people affected by humanitarian crises to survive, recover and rebuild their lives. We were really impressed by the professional level work these students accomplished in just eight hours and can’t wait to use them as inspiration for future campaigns,” said Vera Leung, Senior Director of Content & Creative, International Rescue Committee.
A panel of judges including representatives from IRC and design industry experts reviewed the final projects and determined the winners based on visual appeal, their ability to meet the client’s requirements and brand aesthetics, as well as their professional use of Adobe Creative Cloud applications. The First-place winner received an $8,000 cash prize. The Second-place and Third-place honorees received $4,000 and $2,000, respectively.
“Together with our partner, Adobe, we are exceptionally proud of the opportunities we have managed to provide to all the contestants and winners over the last decade. Through this unique platform we have and will continue to provide young people with a chance to learn, compete, and gain valuable skills that will help them in their future careers,” said Craig Bushman, General Manager, Certiport. “Seeing what these finalists are able to create in just eight hours, it’s apparent that they have a deep understanding of digital design concepts and will be able to leverage their Adobe skills in a real-world work scenario.”
“At Adobe, we know the future belongs to those who create. Certiport’s Adobe Certified Professional World Championship is a wonderful opportunity for students from around the world to come together to create using Adobe Creative Cloud,” said Liana Maharaj-Parrish, Head of Student Learning and Certification, Adobe. “These students have technical mastery and wonderful artistic instincts, and it shows in their final designs. They can follow client instructions and use both their innate design abilities and the Adobe skills they’ve learned to create something amazing and industry-ready. We can’t wait to see where our competitors take their skills next.”
Next year, Certiport will host the 2024 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship and the Adobe Certified Professional World Championship in Anaheim, California, from July 28 through 31.
Learn more about the MOS World Championship here.
Learn more about the Adobe Certified Professional World Championship here.
See what our competitors and other news outlets are saying by searching the event hashtag #MOSWC on social media.
ASSOCIATED PRESS CONTENT SERVICES, CERTIPORT - NO RESTRICTIONS
Orlando, FL, USA - 02 August 2023
2023 Certiport MOS and Adobe World Championships
1. Shot of crowd in seats
2. Close up shot of teens
3. B-roll of trophies
4. Shots of crowd applauding
5. Various shots of teens posing with flags
6. Shot of event banner on screen
7. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Greg Bushman - General Manager, Certiport [00:00:12] We put together a real world experience and at the end of the day, the software judges on time, speed and accuracy. Well, the competition was started years ago as a marketing activity in collaboration with our clients, Microsoft, Adobe. We worked with them to find a way to get students more excited in the classroom. We wanted them to feel the passion and excitement, not just taking a certification because the teacher says it's important because they have a vested interest in it. And so these students come from all over the world. They have been pushed by their teachers, other students, educators, and this is the culmination of that entire event. So for us as an organization, it is important to have students feel vested in it, but more importantly, they're learning skills that will be valuable to them, not only in their college success but in their career, because certifications really distinguish people from other candidates in the job force by showing that they have proof of proficiency in the skills that they are claiming to have.
8. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Dr. Gary Gates - Marketing Director, Pearson VUE [00:01:34] The power of certification is really help students to really prove to future employees that they really have those skills to be able to progress and really be job ready for when they've left school or when they've left college.
9. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Larry Nelson - Regional GM Asia Regional Business Head, Education, Microsoft [00:01:52] Well, I think it sets them up for a great feeling of accomplishment and success. I mean, to actually be, you know, part of this event, be with other students to see what's happening around the globe is incredibly exciting. I know for me just to see what is going on in the work that they're doing and the passion that they bring to their work is really infectious. It's really outstanding. I think we know today that, you know, students who are entering the workforce will probably enjoy or be a part of multiple career changes in their lives. Right. So the constant opportunity to to build new skills and to learn and to have learning be a part of your passion and what you do, I think is reinforced and really a great sense of accomplishment that you get - getting the certification at this point. Certainly also gives them the skills that they'll need to succeed and perhaps perform better in their next steps in education or what have you. And then, of course, as they enter into the workforce, hopefully they'll be bringing those skills with them to help in their career journeys as well.
10. Shot of Adobe winners together
11. Shot of Adobe winners onstage with trophies
12. Kayla Crossen-Zawila - USA 2023 Adobe Certified Professional World Champion onstage
13. Shot of Kayla Crossen-Zawila reaction with family
14. Shot of Kayla receiving awards
15. Shot of Kayla posing with Adobe representatives
16. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Kayla Crossen-Zawila - USA 2023 Adobe Certified Professional World Champion [00:03:43] It feels really, really awesome. I'm really excited. I know my knees were shaking up there. It's really cool. It's been really awesome here at the competition. I really love getting to meet people from all over the world. Like I'm from Edmond, Oklahoma. We don't have this experience every day, so it's really cool. I really love it here. A lot of it probably save for college. And then I'm probably going to try to get a new computer so I can continue to create my own designs instead of leeching off of my sister's computer. I was very nervous. And then they said my name and I was just completely shocked and really, really happy.
17. Shot of Chan Wai Wong - Macau, China - Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365 apps and Office 2019) walking up to stage
18. Shot of Chan receiving awards
19. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Chan Wai Wong - Macau, China - Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365 apps and Office 2019) [00:04:32] Oh, it's insane, because I didn't expect this result before it's announced because the exam was quite difficult. And I'm prepared for a lot, but I haven't expected this result. But fortunately the results is turned out the very good and I'm very happy with this. Oh, this is a really honorable opportunity because it is really there's a real last chance where I think we where we can meet different people around the world at the same time at the same venue. So I really appreciate this opportunity and I very happy if there's something different people around the world.
20. Shot of Man-Him Law - Hong Kong, China - Microsoft PowerPoint (Office 2016) reaction walking up to stage
21. Shot of Man-Him receiving awards
22. Shot of Man-Him posing with awards
23. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Man-Him Law - Hong Kong, China - Microsoft PowerPoint (Office 2016) [00:05:38] Better than I expected and I climbed to the top. So, yeah, very happy now. And it is very a very special experience for me.
24. Shot of Yuxiang Lin - Macau, China - Microsoft Excel (Microsoft 365 apps and Office 2019) reaction and walking up to stage
25. Shot of Yuxiang Lin receiving awards
26. Shot of Yuxiang posing with awards
27. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Yuxiang Lin - Macau, China - Microsoft Excel (Microsoft 365 apps and Office 2019) [00:06:28] Wow. Actually, I feel very excited when I first come to here. And actually in the time I'm preparing my competition and I actually am very nervous but excited. So I feel and also I feel very happy that I can represent my country and my region to here. Yes, I actually I, we meet a lot of kids and as a person in the party and we feel very happy that we can contact with others and also communicated with others and to learn new skills.
28. Lucie Dornakova - Czech Republic - Microsoft PowerPoint (Microsoft 365 apps and Office 2019) receiving awards
29. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Lucie Dornakova - Czech Republic - Microsoft PowerPoint (Microsoft 365 apps and Office 2019) [00:07:16] Yeah. Yeah. I was totally shocked. I didn't know what was going on. It's amazing, guys. I still can't believe it, because, yeah, the competition was really difficult and I still can't believe that I really made it.
30. Bing-Hong reaction and walking up to stage
31. Shot of Bing-Hong receiving awards
32. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Bing-Hong Chen - Taiwan - Microsoft Word (Office 2016) [00:07:52] He's extremely happy and it was very unexpected because the exam was so difficult.
33. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Sora Takaya - Japan - Microsoft Excel (Office 2016) [00:08:01] And my thanks out towards my family and thank you as so many of our friends make it.
34. Various shots of competitors testing
35. Shot of posters
36. Various shots of competitors testing
37. Shot of competitors walking
38. Shot of people posing with flag
39. Group shots of competitors
40. Close up shot of testing screen
41. Shot of competitors walking
42. Shot of competitors shaking hands
43. Shot of competitors testing
2 August 2023
