Nine IMPA Tech students receive gold medals at the 20th OBMEP
Young people are among the country’s 684 medalists; the awards ceremony was held in Rio de Janeiro
Nine IMPA Tech undergraduates were awarded the gold medal at the OBMEP (Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad) on Monday (21) during the 20th National Awards Ceremony. The students are among the 684 gold medalists in the 2025 edition of the country’s largest science olympiad, which attracts more than 18.3 million participants annually.
Among the award winners is Alexandre de Abreu Amaral, 18, a native of São Borja (RS), who received his fourth gold medal at the competition. It was precisely his track record at OBMEP that led him to IMPA Tech.
“OBMEP has been very important in my academic life. I started studying when I was 13, during the pandemic, and realized that I really liked math. Since then, I’ve had experiences like the National Ceremony, the Hilbert Hotel Meeting, the research initiation programs, and the people I’ve met in those places,” she says.
Student Maria Eduarda Nunes da Costa is also among the group of IMPA Tech students honored at the ceremony. She received her first gold medal at OBMEP and credited the competition with bringing about a decisive change in her academic plans.
“The impact that OBMEP had on my academic life was so great that, at times, it hardly seems real. It was such that I was able to envision an academic future extremely rich in knowledge—something I never imagined I would have in my life on such a grand scale. OBMEP is what brought me to IMPA Tech; I’d say it’s the greatest achievement I’ve ever had.”
Sponsored by IMPA with funding from the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI), OBMEP celebrates its 20th anniversary as the country’s largest science competition. Over the course of two decades, the initiative has identified talent in every region of Brazil and expanded young people’s access to academic opportunities of excellence. For IMPA Director-General Marcelo Viana, the students’ journeys exemplify the transformative role the competition has played throughout its two decades of existence.
“Over the past two decades, we have seen young people from every region of the country discover their potential, broaden their horizons, and seize opportunities that might once have seemed out of reach. The national ceremony brings many of these stories together in one place.”
The ceremony was attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Minister of Education Leonardo Barchini, Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Luciana Santos, and other officials. The event celebrates the initiative’s 20th anniversary.
More than just recognition for performance on the exams, OBMEP medals open doors to new academic opportunities. Many of the award winners go on to join the Junior Scientific Initiation Program (PIC), which offers advanced math classes and scientific initiation scholarships awarded by CNPq to public school students.
Currently, OBMEP brings together more than 18.3 million students annually—from 6th grade through 12th grade—and reaches 99.9% of Brazilian municipalities. Throughout its history, the competition has helped connect young talent with universities and centers of excellence, training generations of professionals who now work in fields such as science, technology, engineering, education, and research.
