It is a great honor to be here this evening 
	with so many talented young people from 
	across the United States.  You are here 
	tonight because of your ability, interest, and 
	achievement in mathematics. On behalf of 
	the Clay Mathematics Institute,  of its 
	founder, Landon Clay, and of his wife and 
	fellow director, Lavinia Clay, I congratulate 
	each of you.
	
	My role tonight is to present the Clay 
	Olympiad Scholar Award, which recognizes 
	the most original solution to an Olympiad 
	contest problem.  In a few minutes I will 
	announce the winner.  But first, some brief 
	comments.
	
	
	Most contests, whether they be in athletics 
	or mathematics, place a premium on 
	strength and speed.  These are important 
	qualities, qualities to be admired.  But there 
	is another quality that is perhaps of still 
	greater value: originality. My dictionary 
	defines originality as
	
		the ability to think creatively or 
		independently: a writer of great 
		originality
		
		the quality of being novel or unusual: he 
		congratulated her on the originality of her 
		costume
	
	Originality is not likely the quality that the 
	layman immediately associates with 
	mathematics,  or with science more 
	generally.  But originality is *the* quality 
	which drives knowledge forward, which 
	opens up new frontiers. And it is therefore 
	the highest accolade that we can give.
	
	Consider for a moment the case of Albert 
	Einstein, whose centenary we celebrate this 
	year.  At no time in his career -- as a high 
	school student, as an employee of the Swiss 
	patent office, as a renowned physicist -- did 
	Einstein dazzle by the speed of his problem 
	solving abilities. Rather it was the depth and 
	originality of his ideas that made the 
	difference. And what a difference it made!  
	He gave us the special and general theories 
	of relativity, and with them keys to 
	understanding light, subatomic particles, 
	black holes, and the big bang. He played a 
	key role in the development of quantum 
	theory, even though he never really 
	"believed" in it.
	
	
	To repeat, it was originality that made the 
	difference for Einstein.  And it was 
	originality that has always made the 
	difference in the work the greatest 
	mathematicians, such as Archimedes, or 
	Riemann.
	
	
	Now has come the time to speak aobut this 
	year's awardee, Miss Sherry Gong.  Until 
	last year, Sherry attended school in San 
	Juan, Puerto Rico, where her parents are 
	professors of mathematics at the University 
	of Puerto Rico.  Sherry attended a 
	mathematics olympiad for the first time 
	when she was in the sixth grade.  This was 
	the 3rd Olympiada Matematica de 
	Centroamerica y el Caribe. There Sherry 
	received a silver medal and also a special 
	award for the most original solution.  It was 
	the first such award in the history of this 
	olympiad. Sherry received a silver medal the 
	next year at the same olympiad, and in 2003 
	she received a gold medal at the XVIII 
	Olympiada Iberoamericana de Matematicas.  
	She also received a bronze medal in the 44th 
	IMO (2003) and and a silver medal in the 
	45th IMO (2004).
	
	This past year, Sherry has been a student at 
	Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, New 
	Hampshire.
	
	Besides mathematics,  Sherry likes physics.  
	She won  a position in the 24-member USA 
	Physics Olympiad Team (2005). She enjoys 
	seeing the  connection between physics and 
	mathematics, and she likes to find her own 
	solutions when given a math or physics 
	problem.
	
	Sherry also likes Geography.  She was the 
	State Championship for the Geo Bee and 
	represented Puerto Rico in the National Geo 
	Bee in Washington DC (2002).  Besides 
	math and science, Sherry likes computer 
	programing, karate, poetry and reading.
	
	
	It is a great pleasure to present the Clay 
	Olympiad Scholar Award to Sherry Gong.  
	She will receive a commemorative plaque 
	and a check to help with her education.  Her 
	school, Phillips Exeter Academy, will also 
	receive a check to recognize its role in 
	Sherry's success.
	
	On behalf of the Clay Mathematics Institute, 
	its Scientific Advisory Board, and its Board 
	of Directors, I congratulate Sherry; her 
	parents, Professors Guhua Gong and 
	Liangqing Li; her school in Puerto Rico, 
	Phillips Exeter Academy, and Sherry's 
	teachers.