- Round 1 will be held at Union College in Butterfield Hall (by the football field), Room 203. This map shows how to find Butterfield and nearby parking lots.
What is it?
NACLO, the North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition is a fun (and educational!) contest for U.S. and Canadian high school and middle school students in which contestants compete by solving compelling and creative puzzles in linguistics and computational linguistics. No previous knowledge of linguistics, languages, or computing is required. The puzzles can be solved by analytic reasoning alone, and serve as a fun introduction to the field of (computational) linguistics. The puzzles are created by professionals in linguistics, computational linguistics and language technologies, who use dozens of languages to create engaging problems that represent cutting edge issues in their fields.
Winners of NACLO are eligible to compete in the International Linguistics Olympiad, one of twelve international high school science Olympiads.
Who can participate?
If you are a high-school or middle school student (grades 6-12) in the US or Canada, you are invited to participate. No previous knowledge of linguistics, languages, or computing is required. Participation is free. Please contact us at striegnk@union.edu if you have any questions.
When is it?
Round 1 (Open): Thursday, January 25 2024, 10am-1pm EST. Please arrive at least 20-30 minutes early so that you can get settled in and we can go over the rules.
Round 2 (Invitational): Thursday, March 14 2024, 9am-1pm. Please arrive 10-20 minutes early so that you can get settled in.
Where is it?
Both rounds will be held at Union College.
Round 1 will be held at Union College in room Butterfield 203. This map shows where to park and how to find Butterfield 203 once you get to Union College. The best places to park are probably either the Nott-Lenox Parking Lot or the Archilles Center Parking Lot. If you are being dropped off, cars can enter campus from Nott Street and go all the way to Butterfield. The access from Union Ave may be blocked after Alumni Gym. So, if you are entering campus from that direction, you would have to walk the last few yards from Alumni Gym to Butterfield.
How do I register?
Register on the main NACLO registration page.
How do I prepare?
You can find practice problems here.
I have some more questions
You can find more information at the main NACLO web site and in the NACLO handbook.
Feel free to contact the local organizers at Union College.
Kristina Striegnitz (striegnk@union.edu)
Nick Webb (webbn@union.edu)
For more general questions about NACLO contact nacloinquiries@googlegroups.com.