Advancing to the ICPC North America Championship

The 2020-21 ICPC North America regional contests were organized into eleven regional contests. One hundred seventy-one (171) top performing teams from these regionals advanced to the ICPC North America Division Championships. Forty-eight (48) of the highest placing teams from these division-level contests have advanced to the 2021 ICPC North America Championship (“ICPC NAC 2021”). No two teams from the same university were allowed to advance.

The 2021 ICPC North America Championship will be held in combination with the 2021 ICPC North America Programming Camp (“ICPC NAPC 2021”). The combined event, which will be held online, is scheduled for August 8-15, hosted by the University of Central Florida. The ICPC NAC 2021 will occur on August 14, 2021. Within 5 business days after receiving an invitation, the team coach must confirm to the ICPC Manager (manager@icpc.global) that the team is ready, willing, and able to compete in ICPC NAC 2021.

Other Applicable Rules

In addition to the rules in this document, the ICPC NAC 2021 will be conducted in accordance with the ICPC World Finals Rules which can be found at https://icpc.baylor.edu/worldfinals/rules/ (except for the changes noted in this document).

Furthermore, teams participating in the NAC must also comply with the ICPC Regional Rules published at https://icpc.baylor.edu/regionals/rules/.

The Contest

  • The contest will be conducted online in a manner similar to that of the North America Division Championships (NADC).
  • Each team member is responsible for his or her own computer, system configuration, network connection, and optional printing capability. Teams have the option of using the The ICPC North America Championship OS image which is available for downloading at : https://pc2.ecs.baylor.edu/wfImageBuilds/nac2021/ImageBuildInstructions.html.
  • It is the responsibility of the team to set up a communication mechanism and to ensure that it works. During the contest, contestants may not contact anyone other than the other contestants on their team or contest officials.
  • ICPC NAC 2021 will support the same programming languages as the ICPC World Finals. Allowable languages, compiler versions, and other information can be found at https://nac21.kattis.com/help/.
  • The contest control system is Kattis: https://nac21.kattis.com. Everyone should become familiar with using Kattis prior to the competition. The contest problems will be available on Kattis at the start of the contest and may be downloaded and printed if a team member wishes to do so.
  • The team score will be the aggregated scores of the contestants, as was the case for the NADC.
  • The scoreboard will be frozen 1 hour prior to the end of the contest and will remain frozen until the closing ceremony.
  • The contest will be 3.5 hours.

Judging and Scoring of the Contest

All judging and scoring of the contest will adhere to the ICPC World Finals Rules and conventions.

Code of Conduct

Requirements governing contestant conduct are specified in the ICPC World Finals Rules.

General Rules and Code of Conduct During this Contest

  • ICPC Regional Rules can be found via this link: https://icpc.global/regionals/rules/
    • These NAC Code of Conduct Rules supplement the ICPC Regional Rules
  • The following items are NOT allowed during the contest
    • Communication with anyone other than team members (contestants only), members of the Contest Control System, contest organizers, and technical team for submission of problem solutions, clarifications, and technical help
    • Accessing websites that provide sentient (human or AI) help except for the online help mechanisms provided for the contest
    • Disclosing information about the problem set or solutions to anyone other than the contestant members of your team
    • Using fee-, institution specific-, or restricted subscription-based resources, such as restricted access journals, upgraded websites requiring payments, etc.
  • Permitted forms of communication with other two members of team
    • In-person
    • Via cell phone
    • Via internet-based communication tools
  • Permitted access to code
    • Textual (books, notes, etc.)
    • Code stored on local machine
    • Code repositories (via internet)
      • Note: You might want to make sure your team’s code repositories are private
    • Static code found via web search (via internet)
    • Sharing with team members (email, file share, etc., via internet)
  • Team members may work on problems independently
    • Each team member can work on their own machine
    • Each team member can submit problem solutions to the Contest Control System (CCS)
  • Failure to comply with this code of conduct may result in contestant expulsion from the NAC as well as future contests

Attendance at Events

All team members are required to attend all mandatory online contest events as noted in the schedule. The coach is expected to attend team registration and all team check-in events and be available by phone or similar during contest activities. Failure to attend any of the designated contest events may result in disqualification.

Awards and Rankings

Teams are ranked according to the most problems solved. Teams who solve the same number of problems are ranked first by least total time and, if need be, by the earliest time of submittal of the last accepted submission. The top scoring team will be awarded a gold medal; the second and third place teams will be awarded silver medals; the fourth, fifth, and sixth place teams will be awarded bronze medals. Plaques will be awarded for the first solution in the contest and the first solution of each of the problems.

Advancing to the 45th Annual ICPC World Finals

A minimum of twelve (12) top-performing teams from the 2021 ICPC North America Championship will advance to the 45th Annual ICPC World Finals. Additional teams may be eligible for consideration for ICPC World Finals wildcard slots based on a combination of performance at the NAC, performance at the NADC, and a variety of other factors.

Complaints, Appeals, and Remedies

In accordance with the process described in the ICPC Regional Rules, coaches may file complaints or appeals to the ICPC Contest Manager (manager@icpc.global). That process begins with the coach submitting a complaint, according to the “Complaints, Appeals, and Remedies” Section of ICPC Regional Rules within one business day after the results are announced.

Revision

These rules may be revised on occasion. However, decisions about advancement to the ICPC North America Championship and the ICPC World Finals are final.