ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association (AFA) today released the names of the 28 National Finalist teams that qualified for the CyberPatriot XIII Virtual National Competition March 19-21, 2021.
The 12 Open Division, 13 All Service Division, and three Middle School Division national finalist teams advanced through a series of competitive online qualifying rounds to earn the distinction of national finalist. They represent schools and other youth organizations from California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
A full list of the National Finalist teams can be found here.
"Being named a national finalist in any season is a remarkable achievement," said Bernie Skoch, AFA's CyberPatriot National Commissioner. "But to do it in the challenging environment our teams faced this season is an even greater accomplishment. Not only has the competition gotten more rigorous, but addressing pandemic protocols stressed our teams even further. These 28 teams are genuinely outstanding and their team members have shown skill, teamwork, and determination as none before them. Our congratulations to them, and our thanks to Northrop Grumman and our other sponsors for continuing to invest generously in America's future."
The CyberPatriot XIII competition season began in November 2020 with 4,800 registered teams. The CP-XIII season looked a bit different then previous competition seasons since CyberPatriot modified things to due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those modifications included extending registration which resulted in the elimination of a round of competition and allowing teams to compete in a variety of settings including students competing from their homes. After multiple rounds of rigorous online challenges, the Open Division and All Service Division teams were divided into three tiers: Platinum, Gold and Silver. The teams then competed within their tiers for state awards and the top Platinum tier teams were eligible to advance to the National Finals.
The National Finals Competition will be held virtually this year March 19-21. This is the second year that the National Finals have transitioned to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CyberPatriot is planning a robust National Finals Competition which will include the Network Security Master Challenge, the Cisco NetAcad Challenge, the AT&T Mobile Computing Challenge, the TCP/IP (The Career Portal/ Industry Perspective) event with CyberPatriot sponsors, an opening ceremony, and an awards ceremony. The top overall teams in the Open and All Service Divisions will receive scholarships from Northrop Grumman, and the top Open and All Service Division teams in the Cisco NetAcad Challenge will receive scholarships from Cisco.
CyberPatriot, the nation's largest and fastest growing youth cyber education program, is AFA's flagship STEM program dedicated to strengthening cyber skills among students. The program features the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition for high school and middle school students, AFA CyberCamps, an Elementary School Cyber Education Initiative, the CyberPatriot Literature Series, and CyberGenerations, the Senior Citizen's Cyber Safety Initiative.
Supporters of CyberPatriot include the Northrop Grumman Foundation (CyberPatriot's Presenting Sponsor) as well as Cyber Diamond sponsors AT&T, Cisco, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Microsoft; Cyber Gold sponsors Air Force Reserve, BNY Mellon, Facebook, Symantec, and the USAA Foundation; and Cyber Silver sponsors Air Force STEM, American Military University, Boeing, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Gannon University, Leidos, Mastercard, University of Maryland Global Campus, and VMware.
To learn more about CyberPatriot, please visit AFA's CyberPatriot website www.uscyberpatriot.org.
The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote dominant U.S. Air and Space Forces as the foundation of a strong National Defense; to honor and support our Airmen, Guardians, and their Families; and to remember and respect our enduring Heritage.
SOURCE Air Force Association
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