Key Points
- Sydney-based actuary Andrew Ngai has won the Microsoft Excel World Championship for the third time in a row.
- The event took place in Las Vegas and brought together competitors from around the world.
- "You didn't just succeed - you Exceled," Microsoft quipped on Instagram regarding Ngai's winning performance.
As the clock ticks away, competitors sit hunched over computer screens, sporting headphones and looks of intense concentration. The ever-changing rows of data in their Excel spreadsheets are displayed on large screens in front of them, with each keystroke bringing them one step closer to their goal.
Such was the view that greeted spectators of the Microsoft Excel World Championship final. And if that doesn't sound like much fun, you might change your mind upon learning that the event took place at the HyperX e-sports arena in Las Vegas and was accompanied by enthusiastic commentary and a lively audience.
Excel fans were on the edge of their seats as contestants tackled unexpected tasks, such as calculating the market value of a fleet of spaceships using real data from the video game Eve Online.
Andrew Ngai, a senior actuary based in central Sydney, began participating in the Excel championships in 2018.
Ngai - who competes under the epithet "the Annihilator" - told SBS News that this year's event was particularly enjoyable.
"It was pretty cool because, in the past, there have been similar competitions last year and the year before, but those were online only, so we competed just from home and would dial in. It was still live and on YouTube, but not in person with the crowd cheering for you."
Indeed, the crowd was cheering as Ngai, whose name was at the top of the list, suddenly removed his headphones before the final call. He sat there, hoping that Michael "the Jarman Army" Jarman from the UK or Peter Sharl from the US wouldn't overtake him in the last few seconds.
And they didn't. Ngai seemed tired but happy as he shook hands with his competitors before receiving his award at the centre of the stage.
"A new legend is among us: Andrew Ngai, the 2023 Microsoft Excel World Champion. You didn't just succeed - you Exceled," said Microsoft on Instagram.
Ngai said that he has been using Excel almost every day at work for over a decade - something that greatly helped him prepare for the competition. He has always been interested in maths and problem-solving, and in his year 12 maths exams he came top in the state of NSW.
He believes Excel is useful not only in the office but also for everyday tasks
"It's actually a really flexible tool. A lot of basic things you can do like a calculator. You can add more things together - let's say you're trying to manage your own personal finances, then you can add up all the money you spend and sort of budget how much you want to spend in each category," Ngai said.
"But even just using the tabular structure of a spreadsheet, it's just basically rows and columns, you can put text in there, let's say you're planning a holiday and you have like seven days, seven columns, and then you want to plan like what you do in each hour of the day, you can use Excel for that as well."
The total prize money up for grabs was US$15,000 ($22,400), of which Ngai took home $3,000, plus a trophy and an oversized boxing-style leather belt.
Ngai said he would like to compete again next year.
"[I'd] definitely compete again and see how it goes. I do find it fun, not just like because it's a competition but for the problem-solving. So yes, I'll keep going."
The 16 semifinalists on Saturday hailed from all corners of the globe, including countries such as Poland, Brazil, the US, the UK and Australia.
