Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai (Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Reading) expands his Young Mathematical Story Authors (YMSA) competition to now include a new entry category for 4-7 years old children.
The YMSA competition is the world's first annual international competition set up to encourage young mathematics learners from around the world to creatively embed their mathematics learning in a meaningful and engaging context through creating their own mathematical story picture books. This competition is organised by Dr. Trakulphadetkrai’s non-profit research-based MathsThroughStories.org initiative, and it has been running every year since 2019. Since then, the competition has received entries from around 4,000 students across over 260 schools in 23 countries.
Until recently, the competition had two entries categories: 8-11 years old and 12-16 years old. With the generous support from Oxford University Press (founded in the year 1586), the competition will now be able to reach even younger mathematical storytellers (4-7 years old) globally.
The winner of each entry category will receive a cash prize of £100, and so will their school. Apart from Oxford University Press, the other sponsors are HarperCollins and Charlesbridge – two of the world’s major publishers.
Kersti Worsley, Senior Publisher at Oxford University Press and one of Stories for Maths authors, will join the YMSA team as a judge for this new age category.
Commenting on this new entry category, Dr. Trakulphadetkrai says:
"This new YMSA entry category will help strengthen my message to educators around the world that mathematical storytelling - as a pedagogical approach - is applicable to all age groups, be it 4-years-old Reception children learning addition and subtraction for the first time or 16-years-old secondary school students grappling with inferential statistical concepts."
The competition receives promotional support from national Mathematics teacher associations around the world (e.g., those of the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, among others).
The competition opens for entries on Monday 6 January 2025, with the submission deadline being Friday 21 March 2025.
To learn more about the competition, click here.
