/EINPresswire.com/ -- BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwired - April 07, 2017) - The Air Force Association's (AFA) CyberPatriot Program announced this week the winners of the CyberPatriot IX National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. Among the three divisions of the competition, Team Togo of North Hollywood High School won the national championship in the Open Division, Team Wolfpack of Colorado Springs Cadet Squadron won the All Service Division, and Team Error 37 of Summit Lakes Middle School won the Middle School Division.

"CyberPatriot IX was, in a word, amazing," said National Commissioner Bernie Skoch. "Our congratulations to our new national champions and to every team that qualified for the National Finals Competition. With the generous support of Northrop Grumman Foundation and our other generous sponsors, our program continues to expand and to serve even more thousands of students of all backgrounds each year. We are excited for what CP-X will bring us, as well as what our slate of summer 2017 AFA CyberCamps, our growing Elementary School Cyber Education Initiative, and the new components of AFA's National Youth Cyber Education Program promise this year."

The full list of winning teams for CyberPatriot IX is as follows:

Open Division

National Champions: Team Togo, North Hollywood High School

Runner-Up: Team Maroon, Red Bank Regional High School

Third Place: Team Falcons, Poolesville High School

All-Service Division

National Champions: Team Wolfpack, Colorado Springs Cadet Squadron (Civil Air Patrol)

Runner-Up: Team Cyber Warriors 3, Troy High School (Navy JROTC)

Third Place: Team Marine Raiders, Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School (Marine Corps JROTC)

Middle School

National Champions: Team Error 37, Summit Lakes Middle School

Runner-Up: Team CyberFalcons, Oak Valley Middle School

Third Place: Team CyberAegis Project Eeveelution, Oak Valley Middle School

Leidos Digital Forensics Event

Team Togo, North Hollywood High School

AT&T Mobile Computing Challenge

Team Cyber Warriors 3, Troy High School

Facebook Challenge

Team Falcons, Poolesville High School

Cisco Networking Challenge

All-Service Division: Team TX-781st, O.W. Holmes High School Air Force JROTC

Open Division & Overall Cisco Challenge Winner: Team Togo, North Hollywood High School

Leon Gaulin of Team Marine Raiders from Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School received the Cyber All-American award. This award is presented to competitors who have competed in the National Finals four consecutive years of their high school tenure.

"Congratulations to all the CyberPatriot finalists and our new national champions!" said Diane Miller, director, Global Cyber Education and Workforce Development Programs, Northrop Grumman. "Being among the top 0.6 percent of competitors is truly an amazing feat. The finals get tougher every year so I commend these students for their perseverance, teamwork and commitment to excellence, and their mentors and coaches for their enormous dedication. We not only saw some returning teams, but many new ones, demonstrating that all competitors can make it to the pinnacle of excellence. We are excited to get CyberPatriot X underway and, with the program's growing female participation -- now topping 24 percent -- building what we need worldwide, a highly skilled diverse cyber workforce to take on the diverse, complex challenges."

Northrop Grumman awarded a total of $50,000 to winners of CyberPatriot IX.

The CyberPatriot IX competition season began in October 2016 with more than 4,400 teams registered, a 30% increase from the previous year. After two months of rigorous online challenges, the Open Division and All Service Division teams were divided into three tiers: Platinum, Gold and Silver. The teams continued to compete within their tiers for State Awards and advancement to the Regional/Category Round, but only teams in the Platinum tier -- the highest level -- were eligible to advance to National Finals Competition.

CyberPatriot, an education initiative established by the Air Force Association and presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, is a one-of-a-kind cyber defense competition designed to inspire students toward futures in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Other program sponsors include Cyber Diamond sponsors AT&T Federal and the AT&T Foundation, Cisco, Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Cyber Gold sponsors Facebook, Riverside Research, Splunk, and Symantec; and Cyber Silver sponsors Air Force Reserve, Air Force STEM, American Military University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Leidos, and University of Maryland University College.

To learn more about CyberPatriot's programs and initiatives, and to sign up for CyberPatriot X, please visit www.uscyberpatriot.org.

The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage.