/EINPresswire.com/ -- CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - October 30, 2017) - The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) held its eighth annual ITA Tech Challenge programming skills competition on Saturday, October 28.

The ITA Tech Challenge, presented by Trustwave, began in September with qualifying exams held on campus and shared virtually with a total of 61 participating universities. Students were challenged to solve an exam using their languages of choice, such as C++, C#, JavaScript, Python and PHP. Of the almost 600 who took the initial challenge, 50 qualifying students accepted and traveled to downtown Chicago to take the Final Challenge and compete for $12,500 in prizes.

The top 50 students also had the opportunity to interview with several Chicago technology firms who are looking to hire interns and entry-level employees.

"We are proud to sponsor the ITA Tech Challenge," said Darshini Brown, senior vice president of human resources at Trustwave. "Attracting elite coding talent will remain an important initiative for fueling technological advances and our continued growth in cybersecurity. With a rapidly evolving tech scene, Chicago will also rely on young coders recognizing the city's many advantages including a world-class transportation system and affordable living as they look to establish careers."

"With the support of our local tech companies and sponsors, we've expanded the reach of the challenge year after year," said Trisha Degg, ITA vice president of talent programs. "The sponsoring companies also provide exceptional job and interview opportunities as well as illuminate the capability of the Chicago tech sector for both talent locally and nationally."

Congratulations to the 2017 ITA Tech Challenge Top 10:

1. Jingbo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - $5,000
2. Yu, Georgia Institute of Technology - $2,000
3. Mihai-Iulian, University of Chicago - $1,000
4. Majid, Georgia Institute of Technology - $1,000
5. Yuan, Georgia Institute of Technology - $1,000
6. Samuel, Washington University in St. Louis - $500
7. Animesh, Georgia Institute of Technology - $500
8. Thomas, Carnegie Mellon University - $500
9. Zihan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - $500
10. Mason, Georgia Institute of Technology - $500

This year's ITA Tech Challenge participating universities with both on-site and virtual challenges include:

• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Illinois Institute of Technology
• Indiana University, Bloomington
• Lewis University
• Loyola University
• Northern Illinois University
• Northwestern University
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
• Saint Louis University
• University of Chicago
• University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
• University of Illinois at Chicago
• Washington University in St. Louis

Universities that participated only virtually include:

• Arizona University
• Boston University
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Chicago State University
• Cornell University
• Dallas Theological Seminary
• DePaul University
• Dominican University
• Duke University
• Elmhurst College
• Gateway Technical College
• Harvey Mudd College
• Illinois State University
• Iowa State University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Michigan State University
• Milwaukee School of Engineering
• Missouri University of Science & Technology
• Montana State University
• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• New York University
• Northeastern University
• Northwest University
• Olin College
• Purdue University, Northwest
• Purdue University, West Lafayette
• Roosevelt University
• St. Ambrose University
• St. Xavier University
• Stanford University
• Tennessee State University
• The University of Edinburgh
• The University of Texas at Austin
• The University of Texas at Dallas
• University of Arkansas Fayetteville
• University of California, San Diego
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Florida
• University of Georgia
• University of Maryland, College Park
• University of Memphis
• University of Michigan
• University of North Carolina
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Washington
• Virginia Commonwealth University
• Washington State University

Thank you to all of this year's sponsors that helped make the ITA Tech Challenge possible, especially Platinum sponsor Trustwave. Gold sponsors include: CCC Information Services, Conversant, Corptax, Enova, IMC, Morningstar, Motorola Solutions and PEAK6. Silver sponsors include: AT&T, Cars.com, Grubhub, Peapod, Uptake and Workiva

About the Illinois Technology Association
The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) scales Illinois tech companies. With innovative resources that allow members to collaborate with each other, build their talent networks and elevate their local and national presence, ITA is the region's strongest advocate for fostering innovation and growth. Founded in 2005 and supporting 500-plus growth-stage tech companies, ITA has a rich history of driving business forward. For more information, visit illinoistech.org, follow @ITAbuzz on Twitter or find us on LinkedIn.