Highlights of 2025-26 Competition

In 2025, we continued to have three categories for projects; posters, videos, and mathematical artifacts. We received 17 submissions for posters, 7 submissions for videos, and 3 submissions for mathematical artifacts, making a total of 27 submissions this year.

Timeline

Jan 1, 2026: Themes Released (See below!)
Feb 21, 2026: Registration Deadline
March 25, 2026: Progress Check
April 8, 2026: Final Submission Deadline (We accept late registration)
April 25, 2026: Award Ceremony & Project Display Day

Prizes

Thanks to the support of our generous sponsors, the winner(s) of the competition, the winners of each category was awarded cash prizes. The first teams in each category received $1000, silver medal medal winners (in poster and video categorues) received $500 and the third team (only in video and poster category) received $300.

This year’s special category is Contributions of Canadian Mathematicians, which invites participants to explore and highlight the mathematical achievements and influence of Canadian mathematicians, both historical and contemporary. This special category recognizes projects that clearly and creatively articulate how Canadian mathematicians have contributed to the development and application of mathematical ideas. If your project, addressing one of the above themes, also incorporates this special topic and meaningfully explains these contributions, your team will be automatically eligible to compete in this special category, which offers a separate $500 award for the winning team.

Themes

Theme 1: Mathematics and Nature:
Explore the ways mathematics helps us understand and respond to natural systems and global challenges. Participants may investigate how mathematical ideas are used in areas such as sustainability, biological systems, public health, or climate science. Possible angles include modeling population growth, tracking the spread of disease, optimizing resource use, or predicting environmental change, with attention to how mathematics informs real-world decision-making.

Theme 2: Ancient Mathematics:
For this theme, participation is restricted to the artifact category only; poster and video submissions will not be accepted and will be disqualified.

Explore mathematical ideas from ancient civilizations through the creation and study of artifacts inspired by historical sources. Participants in this theme must submit an artifact and are encouraged to design their own artifact that demonstrates a theorem, method, or mathematical idea from ancient mathematics. Submissions should highlight how mathematics was represented, communicated, or applied in its historical context, drawing connections between surviving artifacts and the underlying mathematical thinking of the time.
Theme 3: Modern Mathematics in the Digital World:
Investigate how contemporary mathematical ideas underpin modern digital technologies. Participants may explore topics such as cryptography and digital security, algorithms in artificial intelligence, or the mathematics behind video game design. The focus should be on how abstract mathematical concepts are translated into practical systems that shape everyday digital experiences.

Theme 4: Mysteries of Mathematics: Delve into some of the most enduring open questions in mathematics. Participants should select an unsolved problem, explain its mathematical context and significance, and discuss why it has resisted solution. Teams may also explore attempted approaches, partial results, or what a solution might mean for mathematics or related fields.

Winners:

Winners of Poster Projects

Gold Medal Winning Poster:
- Title: The Legendary Locator: The math behid GPS
- School name: Sprit of Mathematics
- Mentor: Tanmay Grover
Silver Medal Winning Poster:
- Title: Shadows in Motion: Exploring the mathematics of light and time
- School Name: London Central and H.B. Beal Secondary School
- Mentor: Siwoo Kim
Bronze Medal Winning Poster:
- Title: The Climate Cooperation Paradox: why rational countries fail to save the planet
- School Name: London Central Secondary School
- Mentor: Tom Kenagy

Winners of Video Projects

Gold Medal Winning Video:
- Title: How bias distors epidemic models and the word of Dr. David Sackett
- School name: London Central Secondary School
- Mentor: Lucie Roman-Kiss
Silver Medal Winning Video:
- Title: How math models pandemics
- School Name: Al-Taqwa Academy
- Mentor: Arham Aziz
Bronze Medal Winning Video:
- Title: Matrix math in 3D rendering
- School Name: London Central Secondary School
- Mentor: Seongmin Park

Winner of the Mathematical Artifact Projects

After carefully reviewing all the submitted projects and considering all factors in this category, the organizing committee has decided to announce two top teams as the gold medal winners of this year competition in the artifact category.

Gold Medal Winning Mathematical Artifacts:
- Title: The Gravity Preceptron
- School name: Modether Teresa Catholic and London Central Secondary School
- Mentor: Bianca Li
Silver Medal Winning Mathematical Artifacts:
- Title: Automatic Abacus
- School name: Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School
- Mentor: Barham Dababneh

Winner of The Special Category (Canadian Mathematicians)

Gold Medal Winning Project:
- Title: Cracking the Beetle Code: How Mark A. Lewis and Calculus Helped Protect the Eastern Boreal Forest
- School Name: Catholic Central Highschool
- Mentor: Andrea Sproule

Organizing Team:

Organizing Committee

Coordinator: Dr. Asghar Ghorbanpour
Coordinator Assistant: Anna Ng
Marketing and Outreach Director: Bahar Zali Kah Kesh
Operations Assistants: Harshith Alagandala
Mathematics Element Advisor: Adrian Chitan

Judicial Panel

Dr. Allen O'Hara, Assisstant Professor, Department of Mathematics
Dr. Marwa Tuffaha, Postdoc Associate, Department of Mathematics of York University

Sponsors:

This is made possible by the generosity of our donors as well as the financial support from the Department of Mathematics, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, and the Canadian Math Society.