Antoine Labelle awarded 2022 William Moser Memorial Prize

Antoine Labelle has been named the recipient of the 2022 William Moser Memorial Prize, an award given to McGill students who achieve outstanding results in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition.

Labelle, a U2 Honours Mathematics student, ranked in the top 100 of the 3,415 students who participated in the 83rd Putnam Competition, which took place on December 3, 2022. Only one other student from a Canadian university made the top 100, and Labelle is only the third McGill student to make the top 100 since 1995.

The Putnam Competition is among the most prestigious mathematics contests for undergraduate students. Established in 1927, it invites undergraduates studying in Canada or the United States to sit for a six-hour exam, during which they are presented with six difficult math questions. The only materials entrants are allowed to bring with them to the exam are pens and pencils.

“On behalf of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McGill University and the Moser family, I extend my warmest congratulations to Mr. Labelle and wish him all the best in his future mathematical endeavors,” said Professor Christian Genest, Interim Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

The William Moser Memorial Prize is named in memory of Dr. William Moser (1927-2009), who was a professor of mathematics at McGill for 32 years until he retired in 1997. Labelle will receive a cash prize of $750 and a copy of 500 Mathematical Challenges, a book co-authored by Professor Moser.