The Physics Olympiad is an international competition involving secondary school students from many countries and organised by the Royal Spanish Society of Physics (RSEF) at its national stage. The University of Valencia (UV), through the Faculty of Physics and the Delegation for University Integration, as well as the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), have been responsible for the local stage of the competition, which consisted of a written test of Physics problems and exercises that was carried out on February 21.

The Thursday awards were delivered by the vice president of Employment and Formative Programs of the UV, Adela Valero, who presided over the act; as well as the dean of the Faculty of Physics, Jordi Vidal, and the president of the RSEF, José Adolfo de Azcárraga; In addition to the local Organising Committee of the Physics Olympiad of both universities, Chantal Ferrer (UV), Fernando Tena (UV) and Juan Carlos Carrión (UPV), and a representation of the course teaching staff.

The baccalaureate students that participate in this test opt for local prizes, which include, among others, € 1,000 when enrolling in the University of Valencia. In addition, they can extend their participation to the national phase of the Physics Olympiad (from April 27 to 29 in Salamanca), organiszed by the RSEF with funding from the Ministry of Education. The signing of the agreement for the financing of Spanish participation in the Ibero-American phase (this year in El Salvador) and the 50^th international call (Tel-Aviv, 7-15 July 2019) remains pending.

The participating students were pre-selected in a preliminary test held last October, and received a physical course of more than 70 hours taught by professors from both universities, prior to the local competition test. The centres to which each student belong are IES Vicente Gandía de Villanueva de Castellón (Donato Manuel Jiménez Benetó), IES Faustí Barberá de Alaquàs (Ana Isabel Garrigues Navarro), Colegio Martí Sorolla II de València (Paloma del Hierro Jiménez), Centro Educativo Gençana de Godella (Carlos Valero García), IES Sedaví (Raúl Martínez Pavón) and Colegio Pio XII de València (Alejandro Atienza Vicedo).

More information:  www.uv.es/fisica and in www.uv.es/incorporaciouv/cooperacio

Caption:

- Awards ceremony, on Thursday, in the Faculty of Physics of the Universitat de València.