British Teen Kieran Youngman Wins Gold At 2013 Microsoft Office World Championships (Which Actually Happened)

British Teen Wins Gold At 2013 Microsoft Word Championships

A British teenager has been declared 2013 Microsoft Word world champion.

Kieran Youngman, a 17-year-old student, won the gold medal at the 2013 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship in Washington, DC.

Which exists. Honestly.

Described as "the most popular technology skills competition on Microsoft Office since its inception in 2002", the contest pits 344,000 Office enthusiasts against one another in a variety of skill-based contests.

Just 100 students were picked to participate in the final, from which the UK emerged victorious.

Certiport’s UK partner Prodigy Learning sponsored Youngman's title tilt, and he came up trumps winning the gold medal in the Microsoft Word 2007 final and claiming the $5,000 prize.

Yi-Ping Liu from Taiwan came second, while Emily Peet from the USA took the bronze.

"More than 650,000 exams were uploaded as part of this competition, so these student winners are truly the best of the best at effectively using Microsoft Office tools," said Alison Cunard, general manager for Microsoft Learning Experiences Group.

"Students worldwide are realizing the benefits of mastering these key productivity skills as they prepare to enter the workforce. Learning industry-leading Microsoft programs helps them to be more productive on the job from day one and that is what employers are looking for today."

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