Chairman of the Problems Committee of the long-running Australian Mathematics Competition for the Westpac Awards is one of three international mathematicians to receive the prestigious Paul Erdös Award in 2004.
This Award of WFNMC, given for sustained and distinguished contribution to the enrichment of mathematics education, is strictly limited to three winners every two years and results from extensive refereeing and assessment of many nominated candidates.
Now officially retired after an academic career in training mathematics teachers at the University of Canberra,Warren Atkins now lives in Newcastle, where he continues working in a number of roles with the Australian Mathematics Trust, as well as enjoying a healthy life-style surfing and playing golf and other sports. He has been involved with the Australian Mathematics Competition for the Westpac Awards since it was first planned in 1976.
The three winners for 2004, together with their citations, are:
![[Warren Atkins]](atkins0209.jpg)
Warren Atkins is one of four Australian mathematicians who together created what is today the Australian Mathematics Trust. In the myriad of activities generated through this organization, Warren has served in various capacities. Among them, he has been continuously a member of the Management Committee. He has been Chair of the Australian Mathematics Foundation. He has been an appointed representative to the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee. For many years he has been chairman of the Problems Committee of the Australian Mathematics Competition, where his leadership has led to interesting and challenging papers for students.
At the founding meeting of the Federation in 1984 he undertook the task of editing the Foundation Newsletter, and was named Editor of the Federation journal “Mathematics Competitions” which evolved from the newsletter, a role he has maintained to this day. As an author he has collaborated on numerous research articles dealing with student performance, and has authored a book on problem solving.
While his contributions have generally been behind the visible public screen, they have been significant, and his efforts have been a major factor in the creation and growth of the Australian Mathematics Competition.
![[André Deledicq]](erddel.jpg)
André Deledicq with his son and colleague Jean-Christophe, at the old wall of Toulouse in 2001.
André Deledicq has established an enviable record in mathematics education. While he is known internationally for his work with the game-contest Kangourou, he has also made magnificent contributions in writing, publishing, teaching and lecturing.
In 1991 he created, in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Boudine, the contest Kangourou, with 120,000 participants. By 1993, when he was directing the operation himself, enrolment had passed 300,000, and by 1996, when other European and South American countries were included, enrolment passed one million annually. He has made Kangourou one of the largest and certainly one of the most innovative competitions in the world.
But this is not his main contribution. His major strength and interest is in popularising mathematics at the school level, often through mathematical publications. To this end he has written and published, through a company he founded, a vast number of books, booklets, and posters that are cleverly written and appealing, and that have been distributed to hundreds of thousands of students.
![[Patricia Fauring]](erdfau.jpg)
Patricia Fauring with Professor Ron Dunkley at the second WFNMC Conference in Pravets, Bulgaria, 1994.
For more than sixteen years Patricia Fauring has been at the centre of mathematics competition activities in Argentina, working with students at all levels. Under her leadership and guidance Argentina has created and developed national and international events.
At the national level she is the central figure in a series of annual competitions involving more than one hundred thousand students each year. She has been the dominant figure in the development of the Ibero-American, South American and Southern Core nations competitions which are novel, innovative, and have had a significant impact on the development of mathematical problem-solving abilities among young Spanish and Portuguese-speaking students.
Among these are the Olympiad de Mayo or May Olympiad, held by correspondence for students aged thirteen to fifteen years, and the Olympiada Rioplatense which brings together students from grade six to grade thirteen from the countries of the Rio de la Plata. Possibly the most innovative of her creations is the Frontier Tournament group of competitions, involving students in towns along the borders of Argentina and its neighbours, and designed to stimulate mathematical activity in outlying areas.
Patricia has been the principal mathematician involved in traning Argentine teams for the IMO and other international events, where they have done respectably. She was also the organiser of the very successful 1997 IMO in Mar del Plata and has been elected to the IMO Executive Board.