At the Faculty of Science (FSc) of the University of Montenegro, medals were ceremoniously awarded to the most successful participants in the Dabar 2025 computational thinking competition, which brought together more than 5,6 thousand elementary and high school students from all over Montenegro.
As announced by the non-governmental association (NGO) Tinker, certificates of appreciation were presented to the competition mentors in the packed amphitheater of the Faculty of Fine Arts.
"The medals to the most successful competitors were presented by the Vice-Dean for Education at the Faculty of Science, Nikola Konatar, and the Ambassador of the Dabar Competition in Montenegro, Professor Goran Šuković. A total of 36 medals were awarded - ten gold, eight silver and 18 bronze," the statement said.
The NGO Tinker stated that the Beaver competition is part of the international Bebras initiative and is conducted on all continents, with the aim of developing computational thinking and logical reasoning in children and young people.
They said that in Montenegro, interest in the competition has been continuously growing year after year.
As they said, compared to 2024, when 4.337 students participated, the number of competitors in the last year increased by almost 1,3 thousand.
"A total of 5.620 students competed in the Dabar 2025 competition at 64 Dabar host locations in 20 cities across Montenegro. The competition took place in five categories: Micro Dabar, Milli Dabar, Kilo Dabar, Mega Dabar and Giga Dabar," the statement said.
Šuković pointed out that at the beginning of the implementation of the Beaver Competition in Montenegro, it was impossible to even imagine that it would arouse such great interest among children and young people.
"When we started the Dabar competition, we could not have imagined that the interest would be this great," said Šuković.
The director of the NGO Tinker, Jelena Milojković, emphasized that, in addition to the rapid growth in the number of participants, she is particularly proud of the contribution that Montenegro makes to the international Bebras community.
"I am particularly pleased that task proposals from Montenegro have been included in the final selection of challenges solved at Dabar by competitors from all over the world for several years in a row, placing our country at the very top of this global initiative," Milojković emphasized.
She added that, thanks to the contribution and dedication of the NGO Tinker team, a representative of Montenegro has been invited to participate in the annual Bebras Assembly, which will be held in the United Kingdom in May.
As part of the assembly, as announced, workshops will be held to select and, if necessary, further shape the tasks for Dabar 2026, and the number of participants from around the world is limited to only 100.
The NGO Tinker stated that the ceremony was also attended by Dragana Crvenica from Erste Bank, who has supported the development of the Beaver Competition in Montenegro from the very beginning.
She invited the contestants to be ambassadors of knowledge next year and invite at least one other person to the competition who had not competed before.
The NGO Tinker said that the challenges being addressed in Montenegro are identical to those being addressed by their peers around the world, in different languages.
The final results of the Dabar 2025 competition have been published on the official website: www.dabar.me.
"No special prior knowledge is required to participate in the competition. The challenges are solved on computers for 40 minutes, which is adjusted to the duration of one school class, and are designed to encourage the development of logical and computational thinking in a fun way," the statement says.
It is stated that the Dabar competition is open to everyone, regardless of current academic performance.
The NGO Tinker said that more than 100 primary and secondary school teachers from all over Montenegro formally participated in the implementation of the Dabar 2025 competition.
They said that surprise awards were also given as part of the ceremony.
"Laptop computers were presented to Dabar hosts and competitors in three categories. The award for the host of the Dabar competition with the highest number of medals won went to the "Slobodan Škerović" Gymnasium from Podgorica," the statement said.
It is stated that the mentors of the awarded school were Mladen Janković and Ljiljana Janović, and the students of that school won a total of 12 medals.
The NVU said that laptops were also awarded to gold medal winners through a random drawing.
"The awards went to Viktoriia Shichkina, a student at the "Dašo Pavičić" Elementary School from Herceg Novi, and Radovan Milović, a student at the "Stojan Cerović" High School from Nikšić. The sponsor of the surprise award this year was the ZZI company," the statement said.
The Dabar 2025 competition was implemented by the NGO Tinker, in cooperation with the general sponsor Erste Bank, the gold sponsor Oracle Academy, and the partners ZZI and the company Čikom.
The Tinker NGO said that, thanks to the support of sponsors, participation in the competition was free for all participants.
They said that the Dabar competition today represents one of the most significant initiatives in the field of digital education in Montenegro, connecting the domestic education system with the global community and encouraging young people to develop the skills necessary for the future.
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