SFU Beedie students win blog award at National BTM Student Case Competition

The SFU Beedie team (l-r: Joe Vukasovic, Simrin Purhar, Trevor Chernoff, Gabby Sakowicz and Eric Wong), who won the Student Blog Competition at the National BTM Case Competition

A team of SFU Beedie undergraduate students competing in the National BTM Student Case Competition has won the Blog Post Competition category, collecting a $1,000 prize. The team, supported by faculty coach Dr. Jie Mein Goh, comprised five members: Eric Wong, Trevor Chernoff, Gabby Sakowicz, Joe Vukasovic and Simrin Purhar.

Competitors were asked to write a blog post responding to a question about Artificial Intelligence. The teams had two weeks to promote their submission, with 50 per cent of their final score being based on web traffic to their post, and 50 per cent of the final score based on editorial criteria, determined by the ITWC Editorial Judging Board. The SFU Beedie team’s blog post, which was published on IT World, received more than 100 comments.

Team Lead Eric Wong rallied the SFU Beedie community to read and engage with the team’s post by committing to donate half of his portion of the winnings to charity if the team was successful. The views and comments from SFU Beedie students contributed directly to the team’s victory. He subsequently made a $100 donation to the Canadian Red Cross, which was matched by the federal government, contributing a total of $200 to flood relief efforts.

“I believe that community was a big factor in us winning, and it goes to show that SFU has truly fostered a healthy and supportive community where students would be willing to lend a helping hand when in need,” says Eric Wong. “It was both a team win and a community win for the school.”

The competition, which is organized by the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) in partnership with IT World Canada, challenges students in Business Technology programs to apply their IT and business training to real world situations they might face as BTM professionals. In its second year, SFU Beedie’s performance follows success in the inaugural edition, where SFU Beedie students were awarded third place overall.

“What I really enjoyed about the BTM Case Competition was diving into the details of artificial intelligence,” says team-member Gabby Sakowicz.

“As we are starting to talk more about technology in our everyday lives, it was interesting to further understand where it is headed to in the future.”