I have to admit that I really am not a coder or programmer. I’m more of a writer, blogger, search engine optimizer, and shameless self-promoter. As such, I’ve been a real fan of the TopCoder competition for years now. TopCoder has announced the winners of this year’s TopCoder Open.

What is TopCoder?
From the site: “The 2009 TopCoder Open (TCO) is a world-wide programming and graphic design tournament that is open to all TopCoder members 18 and older, who are in good standing, and meet all other eligibility criteria. There are nine different tracks of competition as part of the TCO: Algorithm, Architecture, Assembly, Component Design & Development, Marathon, Mod Dash, Specification, and Studio Design. Taking part in the TCO09 gives you the opportunity to showcase your programming and/or design skills up against some of the best in the world.”

And they give away some great prizes, I might add.

So, here are this year’s winners:

Algorithm Coding Champion $10,000 Prize: Bin Jin, TopCoder handle crazyb0y, of Shanghai, China. Jin, a student from Changzhou High School, also won this year’s 2009 TopCoder High School International tournament.

  Algorithm Finalists
  crazyb0y, China * (winner)          Im2Good, Norway
  Petr, Russian Federation            syg96, Russian Federation
  SnapDragon, Canada                  UdH-WiNGeR, Russian Federation
  lucasr, Argentina                   marek_cygan, Poland

Marathon Competition Champion $10,000 Prize: Andrey Lopatin, TopCoder handle KOTEHOK, of St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.

  Marathon Finalists
  KOTEHOK, Russian Federation * (winner)       maniek, Poland
  AlexanderL, Ukraine                          jdmetz, USA
  nhzp339, China                               prober, China
  Psyho, Poland                                roma, Ukraine
  wleite, Brazil                               zibada, Russian Federation

Mod Dash Champion $10,000 Prize: Ninghai Huang, TopCoder handle PE, of Beijing, China.

  Mod Dash Finalists
  PE, China * (winner)              ShindouHikaru, Philippines
  cucu, Argentina                   enefem21, Indonesia
  saarixx, Ukraine                  Margarita, Ukraine
  will.xie, China                   Yeung, China

TopCoder Studio Champion $15,000 Prize: Dale Napier, TopCoder handle djnapier, of Brisbane, Australia.

  TopCoder Studio Finalists
  abedavera, Indonesia                      djackmania, Indonesia
  djnapier, Australia * (winner)            Elizabethhee, China
  foxyhu, China                             oton, Indonesia
  mahestro, Venezuela                       oninkxronda, Philippines
  sweetpea, Indonesia                       Tricia_Tjia, Indonesia

Architecture Champion $10,000 Prize: GuanZhuo Jin, TopCoder handle Standlove, of Hangzhou City, China.

  Architecture Finalists
  Standlove, China * (winner)        argolite, Canada
  Ghostar, USA                       AleaActaEst, Canada
  the_best, Ukraine                  saevio, Romania

Assembly Champion $10,000 Prize: Pablo Wolfus, TopCoder handle pulky of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

  Assembly Finalists
  pulky, Argentina * (winner)           oldbig, China
  PE, China                             pinoydream, Philippines
  retunsky, Russian Federation          BeBetter, China

Design Champion $10,000 Prize: Olexiy Sadovnikov, TopCoder handle saarixx, of Dniepropetrovsk, Ukraine.

  Design Finalists
  saarixx, Ukraine * (winner)             argolite, Canada
  bramandia, Indonesia                    caru, Italy
  gevak, Russian Federation               Indemar, Romania
  Mafy, Romania                           nicka81, Russian Federation
  Standlove, China                        Pops, USA

Development Champion $10,000 Prize: Yanbo Wu, TopCoder handle assistant, of Adelaide, Australia & China.

  Development Finalists
  assistant, China * (winner)           Hacker_QC, China
  hefeng, China                         iKnown, China
  morehappiness, China                  myxgyy, China
  romanoTC, Brazil                      velorien, Romania
  Orange_Cloud, Russian Federation      EveningSun, China

Specification Champion: Piotr Paweska, TopCoder handle AleaActaEst, of Toronto, Canada.

  Specification Finalists
  AleaActEst, Canada * (winner)        MiG-29, Russian Federation