Over the weekend, I participated as a judge in the final round of the U-22 Programming Contest. This contest began in 1980 as the “National High School Programming Contest.” Although its name and organizing body have changed over the years, it has continued to this day and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

　The Grand Prize—the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award (Overall)—was awarded to Mr. Uehara (a third-year middle school student).He scored overwhelmingly high marks in every evaluation category: completion, technical skill, and creativity. He also won the “Best Viewers” Award, voted on by viewers of Niconico Live, by a landslide. However, he had already reached a level where such scores were completely irrelevant! The venue erupted in excitement at the emergence of this astonishing talent.
　What he developed was “Blawn,” a programming language designed to be user-friendly for humans. While TED-style presentations are becoming increasingly popular even among younger audiences, Uehara calmly explained his original programming language. What impressed the judges the most was his speed of learning.Although Uehara had been using Python since entering middle school, he says he only started using C++ for the first time this past July. Finding it difficult to work with, he decided he wanted to develop a language with highly readable syntax and improved memory safety and speed, and began development in August. The deadline for entries to this contest was September 2.
　During the Q&A session, even though top-tier engineers and business executives asked tough questions, he remained completely unfazed, systematically refuting their arguments with logical precision.
One by one, the judges backed down, saying, “We’re truly impressed.” Mr. Uehara took home four awards, including the sponsor’s prize.While some questioned whether too many awards had been concentrated on a single person, I believe everyone in the audience—including the other winners—found his four awards thoroughly deserved. His overwhelming presentation, delivered by someone of his own generation, must have served as a major inspiration for the other contestants as well. At the very least, I was still buzzing with excitement, so I rushed over immediately after the judging session ended to ask him to take a photo with me. Sorry for being such a fan.
　He explained that the name “Blawn” is a play on “Blue Lawn,” and that since the “blue lawn” in the proverb “the grass is always greener on the other side” is an object of envy, he named it with the intention of creating a language that could resolve the shortcomings of existing languages.Everyone in the venue was looking at Mr. Uehara with envy.
I believe that figuring out how to discover and promote people like him is a crucial issue from the perspective of Learning of Tomorrow as well.

　Since this contest evaluates entries from three perspectives—"Product," "Technology," and "Idea"—awards are presented in each category in addition to the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award for "Overall Excellence."The three categories are “Product,” which primarily evaluates the level of refinement based on “usefulness” and “artistry”; “Technology,” which primarily evaluates technical prowess based on “functionality” and “algorithms”; and “Idea,” which primarily evaluates creativity and other aspects of the concept based on “originality” and “future potential.”

　The winner in the Product category was “LOCUS,” created by Mr. Manabe (22). “I want to be a game creator, not just a game engineer,” he said. His passion was evident from the very start of his presentation, and the moment his name was called, he shed tears while striking a victory pose.He explained that he created this game out of a desire to test his abilities and grow further before starting his career as a professional creator next year. While the judges praised the game’s high level of polish, their comment that “it tries to do too much for a game” felt like a reflection of the deep passion Manabe poured into this project.
　Race along tracks while shooting down enemies. This work is a fresh take on gaming that combines elements of two distinct genres: shooting and racing. The key point is that it was implemented entirely from scratch, without relying on a game engine. By meticulously fine-tuning every detail, the creator has successfully brought a unique worldview to life.
　The Technology Division award went to “Tetra,” a browser-based DNCL interpreter developed by Mr. Daimon (22). This project was developed as a tool to support programming education, in response to the trend toward making such education mandatory. It can be accessed from anywhere using any device capable of running a web browser.It offers features to support program creation, execution, and debugging. By utilizing its input assistance feature—where users enter required information into a dialog box—parts of the program are automatically generated. This allows the tool to provide hints for creating programs to students who are not yet comfortable with typing and to young beginners in programming.Features such as step-by-step execution mode, which allows users to track where a program is being executed, and detailed error reports help learners understand program structure. For those of you promoting programming education, what do you think?

　The winner in the Ideas category was none other than 10-year-old Tomita. Tomita has a deep love for science and the periodic table. When it comes to the periodic table, we all memorize it by humming “Suihei Ribe…”—that’s how I learned it, too.However, Tomita realized that this song isn’t effective for people who don’t know Japanese, those with hearing impairments, or those who prefer to learn by sight. It’s a line of thinking typical of a student at an international school. So he created “Capture the Elements,” a game that makes learning the chemical symbols fun.Simply put, it’s a fast-response game about elements. You have to find and click on the element that matches the one specified. There are five difficulty levels, and apparently, even Tomita—a self-proclaimed element enthusiast—has never cleared the highest difficulty. “The sensation of searching for and clicking on element symbols is addictive,” and the game was praised for its high level of polish.
　Incidentally, Tomita revealed that his favorite element is “hydrogen.” From then on, the judges adopted a new routine of declaring their favorite element symbols before asking questions. It was a presentation that successfully engaged the judges and set the tone for the event.
A notable feature of this year’s competition was that all four recipients of the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award were individual entrants.I truly felt the power of their exceptional talent. However, a “group” formed when strong “individuals” clash and create a chemical reaction should be even stronger. Next time, I look forward to seeing such a team emerge.
https://www.csaj.jp/NEWS/pr/191021_u22.html