I can't believe we have reached the end of yet another Cipher Challenge! We had 4277 of you taking part in 1765 teams from 610 schools, and there were still 566 teams submitting to Challenge 7. It ws an amazing response from an amazing crowd and you should all be very proud of your achievements. Whether this was your first attempt at the competition and you cracked just Challenge 1, or you are a devoted competitor who spent hours polishing your skills this year, you have all done very well.
Winners will of course be decided after the last Challenge closes in January. It goes live today at 3.15, and I wish you all luck with it.
First prize for the best individual entry this year will be the GCHQ prize of £1,000. The prize for the best team entry, Harry's prize, will be supported by THe University of Southampton Mathematics Department, again for £1,000. Runners up prizes for the best indovidual are sponsored by Trinity College Cambridge and for the best team by IBM who have both agreed again to support the competition with prizes of £800.
The winners will be invited to a prizewgiving at Bletchley Park organised by our partners at BCS on Friday 4th March. There will be some tickets available for the event whcih will involve a fun lecture and an opportunity to tour the park and museums. You can apply for tickets online from 9am on Friday 18th December and the ticket system will be open unitl January 31st. We will do our best to accommodate all requests, but this is a very popular event so do apply early.
Good luck and best wishes,
Harry