The Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) hosted the final round of the ICPC Guatemala national programming competition in 2025, which served as a qualifier for the Latin American regional event. The competition brought together teams from various Guatemalan universities with computing programs, including UVG.
Erick Marroquín, a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at UVG, served as the national director for the 2025 tournament. He stated, "The ICPC Gran Premio de Centroamérica 2025 included participation from 17 universities in the region and a total of 89 teams competed remotely."
Teams from Guatemalan universities gathered at UVG's Center for Innovation and Technology (CIT-UVG) to compete and determine national winners. Ten teams represented UVG in the final. Among them, Markov Bros achieved fifth place at the Central American level and secured first place nationally by solving 14 problems in 1,267 minutes.
Participation increased this year compared to last year’s event. In 2024, there were 16 finalist teams; in 2025, that number rose to 25, requiring more logistical support.
Marroquín emphasized that ICPC helps participants develop soft skills such as working under pressure and critical thinking. He noted that students focus on optimizing algorithms for speed rather than just functionality and often learn new programming languages like C++ to improve performance. He also contrasted ICPC with hackathons: "Unlike other competitions like hackathons, ICPC 2025 began in May and gives students the opportunity to prepare and improve their skills continuously. Hackathons are usually organized by private institutions with specific objectives and without continuity."
The competition is designed to foster logical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills among students interested in computer science careers.
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