Mark Moriarty — EB-1A

Claim E. Prizes and Awards

Parent file: index

Status

Last editedProgress
March 1100% done.

Included in original (Dec) filing:

  • IBYE
    • Include (extract of) letter from Sean O’Sullivan.
  • Parallel18
    • Exhibit T: proof of Gen 4
  • Hackathon: Second place in “Hacking Agentic Finance” hackathon (Nov 2024)
    • Exhibit V: Also link to github (open source).

Let’s also include in RFE:

  • 1. Science olympiads (national and international)
    • National level:
      • 2006: “Irish Junior Science Olympiad” (first place in Ireland)
      • 2007 & 2008: “Irish Physics Olympiad” (first place in Ireland) (including national news)
    • International:
      • European Science Olympiad (EUSO) 2006
      • IPhO (International Physics Olympiad) 2006, 2007 and 2008 (including national news)
  • 2. Irish Junior Maths competition (including in national newspaper)
  • 3. National exams
    • Junior Cert (including in national newspaper)
    • Leaving Cert (including in several national newspaper)
  • 4. Hackathon: Winner of SVI Hackspace hackathon in Stanford (2011)
  • 5. Rotary Youth Leadership Competition
    • Find newspaper where we were in the RDS heading off to the European Parliament
  • 6. Being accepted to YCombinator (yes, we have it mentioned in “C: Membership of orgs”, but “getting YC investment” is also like a prize, so worth repeating for emphasis in this section)
  • 7. Student of the Year (?)

As will all parts of this website: “Right click → Save as…” to download any image.

1. Science Olympiads

Summary:

  • 3× overall winner (#1 in Ireland top prize) at national level. Mr Moriarty won first place in Ireland three years in a row.
    • 2006 all-ireland winner for the Junior category (physics). 2006: Mr Moriarty won first place in the “Physics” category for the Irish Junior Science Olympiad. (This is a competition for teenagers up to age ~16)
    • 2007 and 2008 all-Ireland winner (#1 in Ireland) for the senior category, known as “Irish Physics Olympiad”.
  • 4× participant at international level, including team silver and individual bronze medals.

1A. Irish Junior Science Olympiad / IrEUSO

“The IrEUSO is a competition for science students from the Republic of Ireland who are 16 years of age or younger on the December 31st prior to the competition. The Department of Education & Science (DES) through the State Examinations Commission (SEC) provided the names and school addresses of the students who achieved the highest marks in both Science & Mathematics in the Junior Certification Examinations in 2004 and 2005 and who were born on or after 1st January 1989. Almost 500 were eligible. This competition is therefore by invitation only.”

What it is: This is an all-Ireland competition (all 32 counties of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland).

In 2006, Mr Moriarty won the physics competition outright.

Zoom-in screenshot of results:

Results page: https://www.irishscientist.ie/2006/contents_contentxml-06p67_xml-contentxsl-is06pages_xsl.html

Embedded pdf:

1B. Irish Physics Olympiad

  • 2007: Mr Moriarty won first place in the Irish Physics Olympiad. This is the main competition, across all 32 counties of the island of Ireland, for pre-university students. It also forms the basis of selection for the International Physics Olympiad. (The top ~12 students are invited to additional training and tests, to chose 4-5 students to represent Ireland at the International Physics Olympiad.)
  • 2008: Mr Moriarty won first place (again) in the Irish Physics Olympiad.

From the national newspaper, Irish Examiner: Above: Crop from national newspaper, Irish Examiner.

Alternative scan:

Download for appendix:

As noted in the above article, Mr Moriarty’s achievement also unlocked a university scholarship.

The Derry Journal:

Above image cropped from regional newspaper The Derry Journal, Feb 1, 2008. Downloads for appendix: Cover page only (no mention of Mark): Derry Journal cover page only (no mention) - DYJ-2008-02-01.1.pdf Relevant page with article: 2008 Derry Journal - ISO - DYJ-2008-02-01.10.pdf

1C. European Science Olympiad (EUSO)

What it is: A team event for countries in the European Union. Each team of three has one student to excel at each of physics, chemistry and biology.

In 2006 this event was hosted in Brussels, Belgium. Based on his performance at national level (winning first prize in the physics category of Irish Junior Science Olympiad), Mark Moriarty automatically qualified to represent Ireland.

Mark was the “physics” lead for his team, which won a silver medal (6th out of 23 teams)

1D. International Physics Olympiad

What it is: an annual international competition where 500+ students compete. Each country can send a max of five delegates to represent them. Each individual competes as an individual (it’s not a team event).

This is an incredibly prestigious event. Winning a medal at IPhO (International Physics Olympiad) typically means instant admission to the top colleges in the world. In many countries, representing your country unlocks significant scholarships, and in some cases excuses participants from otherwise compulsary military service.

Unprecented success: Mr. Moriarty set records never before seen in Ireland. He represented his country as an individual participant at the International Physics Olympiad not once, but three times:

  1. 2006 (Singapore): Despite being two years younger than the typical Irish Physics Olympiad top performers, Mr. Moriarty was invited to sit the final team selection test — based on his unusually high performance in the Irish Junior Science Olympiad (which he had already won) and his strong showing at the European Union Science Olympiad (carrying his team to a silver medal). Despite being just 16 years old, he qualified to represent Ireland at IPhO 2006 in Singapore.

  2. 2007 (Iran): After winning first place at national level in 2007, he was again invited to try out for the Irish team. He again qualified, and represented Ireland at IPhO 2007 in Iran, where he earned an Honorable Mention.

  3. 2008 (Vietnam): Mr. Moriarty again won the national Physics title, again qualified through the team selection tests, and this time won a Bronze Medal at the International Physics Olympiad in Vietnam — concluding an unprecedented run.

In total, he represented Ireland four times abroad in three years: once at EUSO (Belgium) and three times at the International Physics Olympiad (Singapore, Iran, and Vietnam). In the process, he came first in Ireland three years in a row and unlocked scholarships from private sponsors through his record-setting performance.

IPhO results are available for all years on ipho-unofficial.org. For example, 2008 results are on https://ipho-unofficial.org/timeline/2008/individual

2007: See 2× pages here

Summary of the 2006-2008 winning streak: National and International Science/Physics Olympiads

Note to Fragomen: the next few lines below are duplicative with the above, and should be cleaned up.

Through the period 2006 - 2008, Mr. Moriarty set national records and won international medals for science and technology.

Winning the number #1 prize three years in a row and representing Ireland at three different International Physics Olympiads was never achieved before Mr Moriarty’s record-breaking run. Being “one of one”, percentages become a bit meaningless, other than to emphasize this competition was open to all senior-cycle (approx. 150,000) students in the 32 counties of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.

Appendix: Extract from 2022 O-1 application, extract from section E, “Receipt of Nationally or Internationally Recognized Prizes or Awards”

2. Irish Junior Maths competition

What it is: a two-stage national competition open to all students in Ireland. In the final round of the 2003 competition, Mr Moriarty was the only student to score full marks in the exam.

Above: image from national newspaper Irish Examiner dated June 3, 2003.

Separately, Mr Moriarty was also a gold medal winner in the Canadian International Mathematics Challenge, and other math/science competitions of significant prominence.

Narrative: why all this (physics and maths competitions) matters to Stripe

“STEM talent drives economic progress”

Note to Fragomen: We didn’t submit this list of physics, maths and academic awards in our original application. I want us to stress that we’re not “scraping the barrel” submitting this list of awards now. Rather, these awards are extremely relevant in demonstrating excellence in the broader category of “science and technology”, something that’s relevant to my job today. The point to land, in your own words, is likely something like this: Today Mr Moriarty is focussed on experimentation and innovation for Stripe, representing Stripe as spokesperson, hiring panelist and hackathon judge. These awards were a factor in hiring him, and in his credibility liasing with the brightest young minds today. Stripe sees that the students winning science and mathematics awards today are likely to be the future builders of economic growth tomorrow. Mr Moriarty’s many accolades and achievements in this arena are object proof that he’s in the top ~0.01% of technologists, and give him credibility to represent Stripe as Stripe continues to invest in the next generation of inventors and builders.

Objectively these “prizes” put me in the top 0.01% or so, I think it’s worth finding a way to bring them back now. I think the re-frame is: instead of “eading authority in business innovation, strategy, and solutions for technology companies” we could expand it to be something like “leading authority in business innovation, strategy, science and technology” (I just added the word “science” there to make “physics achievements” sound more relevant. 

I think it’s fair to say that Stripe is all about “Science and Technology”, especially since we sponsor the “Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition” in Ireland.

Stripe values these competitions. It’s particularly valuable to have former prize winners on staff.

Teenage accomplishments in the sciences are not merely irrelevant, cute, historical lore for a career Stripe. Stripe was founded by two brothers who have leaned into their brand as technologists, futurists, funders of science (Patrick funds the Arc Institute), writers on innovation and progress (John spoke to the Irish Prime Minister and wrote about housing policy and growth). Both brothers believe their early scientific successes are an important public achievement to differentiate them as high performers from Ireland, and doubled down on this as being a relevant hiring filter. 

John Collison, the younger brother and other co-founder, was a bronze medalist at the International Physics Olympiad, representing Ireland once. (Unlike Mark, he did not win the national competition, nor did he get to represent Ireland more than once.) 

Patrick Collison, for his part, won the 41st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2005 (at the time, known as the “BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition” — the competition that Stripe would go on to sponsor 20 years later in 2025, taking over from the old title sponsor, BT). In 2025, Stripe aligned its brand with science & technology competitions, for secondary school students, choosing to sponsor the historic Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, which has been running for several decades. Stripe is now the flagship sponsor of the event. Stripe CEO Patrick flew to Dublin, over 100 stripes based in Dublin helped out with the event, and excellence in science and technology is something that is critically important to Stripe. On January 23, 2026, the most recent winner spoke to Stripe employees at the companies weekly all-company meeting. Having members of staff who can speak to the press and have credibility in this arena of science and technology is incredibly important. Historical success is celebrated and greatly benefits Stripe’s commitment to furthering scientific research, as well as attracting the best and brightest science and technologists as future hires. While some companies might dismiss teenage accomplishments as being no longer relevant once an adult enters the working world, for Stripe, a constant commitment to science is at the core of company culture, company brand, and matters a lot when talking to investors and potential hires. It is for this reason we included mention of Mark’s International Physics Olympiad (bronze medal), European Union Science Olympiad (silver medal) and Irish (national) Physics Olympiad (first place, two years in a row), and Mark’s International Junior Science Olympiad (first place in Ireland). Number one in Ireland, it is relative category, three years in a row, 2006, 2007, 2008. (Statistically this is not unlike winning gold medals at multiple Olympic Games.)

Key sentence: Stripe believes that “STEM talent drives economic progress”. (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jefftitterton_stripeyste-ugcPost-7415443211546202113-0mpg

https://stripeyste.com/media-centre/news/stripe-title-sponsor-young-scientist-exhibition

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025/05/26/stripe-announced-as-new-headline-sponsor-of-young-scientist-technology-exhibition/ 

3. Top marks in Ireland in national academic exams

Outside of science specifically, Mr. Moriarty also set national records for the national exams during secondary school in Ireland across all disciplines. The “Junior Certificate” and “Leaving Certificate” are the standard national exams all secondary school students take at approx ages 15 and 18 respectively. 

3A. Leaving Certificate exam (2008)

What is: Ireland doesn’t have SATs; entrance to college was determined exclusively by exams across your best six subjects. (Instead of applying to colleges individually, all college applications in Ireland are managed through one central process; the “Leaving Certificate” is the one exam that determines which course, in which college(s), you may study.)

Mark’s outstanding achievement: Mark scored maximum points (600 points) in this exam. Indeed, though only the “best six subjects” count, Mark had “points to spare”. He was one of just 14 students in the country to get full points (A1) in eight subjects (again, all at higher level).

Mark’s eight subjects skewed science-heavy: his eight subjects were Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Music, English, Irish, French, Physics, Chemistry. As a percentage, these top 14 students who scored eight A1s out of 56,000 who took the 2008 exam were in the top 0.025% of students who sat the 2008 exam.

Additional press coverage:

Irish Examiner (national newspaper) on August 14th, 2008:

Article close-up from page 14 of Irish Examiner (national newspaper) on August 14th, 2008: The above two extracts are from page 14, viewable in full here:

The front page of that paper also mentioned Mark Moriarty, since the top performers in the national exams attract press coverage:

PDF of cover page (downloadable):

Irish Independent (national newspaper), August 14, 2008

That’s an extract from page 14 of the Irish Independent on 2008-08-14. PDF of that page:

University Scholarship The top score resulted in Mark receiving a second cash scholarship to University in Ireland.

3B: Junior Certificate exam (2005)

What it is: A national exam.

  • Junior Certificate 2005: Mr Moriarty achieved top marks in the country (no student achieved higher marks). Mr. Moriarty was one of of just five students in the country to score elevent A grades at higher level. Out of approximately 56,000 students who took the “Junior Certificate” exam in 2005, this put him in the top 0.009% of students in Ireland (less than 1% of 1%).
  • Citation: {needed; I can’t find any articles or evidence of this}

I can find the newsletter from my school, which simply confirms I was the top student in my school:

4. Hackathon: Winner of SVI Hackspace hackathon in Stanford (2011)

Archive of the page announcing the winner: https://web.archive.org/web/20111117221627/http://svihackspace.com/?p=166

Video summarizing the winning submission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiaCPZOdKEE

Summary of the winning project (also in the youtube video description):

Box.net × Delicious API Mashup — SVI Hackspace, Stanford (August 2011)

Built a Python CGI application that bridges the Box.net and Delicious.com APIs to unlock powerful tag-driven file discovery and access control. The tool automatically syncs Box.net file metadata — URLs, tags, and descriptions — as Delicious bookmarks, enabling users to leverage Delicious’s rich tagging UI (usage counts, social tagging, public browse-ability) without altering underlying file permissions on Box.net. This creates a lightweight discovery layer: colleagues or collaborators can browse file titles, descriptions, and tags — and click through to access only what they’ve been explicitly granted. The interface also extends Delicious’s native search with OR-based tag queries and prefix filtering. In an enterprise context, teams sharing a common tagging vocabulary can surface relevant documents across users without exposing restricted content. Developed by Phelim Bradley and Mark Moriarty (Ireland) — http://phel.im | http://markmoriarty.com

5. Rotary Youth Leadership competition

Represented Ireland at the European Parliament.

This extract from the school newsletter again sounds parochial, but does mention “was s finalist in the Rotary Youth Leadership Challenge”, which actually means “represented Ireland at an international event for youth from across the EU.”

6. Student of the Year - 2008

Coverage in newspaper the Evening Echo: That’s a combined extract from the front page and page 17. Front page: Evening Echo COVER ONLY (no mention of Mark) - 2008-11-19.pdf Page 17: Evening Echo page 17 - overall student of the year - 2008-11-19.pdf

Note to Fragomen: I actually really like this extract. Initially I figured “page from my school yearbook” was too small/parochial to bother including, but upon re-reading, I vote we include it — even in the main application, rather than lost in the long appendix. It serves as an alternative to a letter from the high school principal; this was publicly shared with all parents of all children (in the yearbook) — not some exaggerated message for the sake of a glowing reference letter.

The above write-up is a nice summary of other accolades mentioned, such as winning the Rotary Youth Leadership competition and representing Ireland at the European Youth Parliament in Strasbourg (Mark was elected speaker on the day). In the years after this was published, Mark did indeed complete two performance diplomas: one in piano (ALCM) and one in speech and drama (ATCL).

7. Accepted into YCombinator

In our original submission, we included the following awards related to entrepreneurship: Parallel18 accelerator funding and IBYE (Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur). It was remiss of us to not re-emphasize YCombinator under this theme too.

Extract from national newspaper, the Sunday Business Post (this is also referenced from Claim C, memberships of groups, since the YC alumni network is an elite membership group).

Additional appendix

Many of the above newspaper extracts were obtained from the archive on https://irishnewsarchive.com/ (search for “Mark Moriarty” from 2001 through 2010 to find many of the above newspaper results)

Example search results: https://irishnewsarchive.com/?a=q&results=1&r=81&e=03-02-2001-04-02-2010—en-20—61-byDA-img-txIN-%22mark+moriarty%22---------1-1-1-1-1-1-community-------INA-mr-all-

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