Darrell Day of Brigham Young University in Utah (center) won first place at the 15th Annual Chinese Bridge Competition last Saturday at University of Maryland, College Park. Photo by Allan Fong For China Daily

Darrel Day accepted a challenge three years ago that eventually led him to being crowned a regional champion of this year's Chinese Bridge Competition.

"Initially, the difficulty of the language definitely sparked my interest in Chinese. I had a few friends who said there was no way I could ever learn it, and I like challenges," said the Brigham Young University student.

On April 16, at the Chinese Bridge Language Competition at the University of Maryland in College Park, students demonstrated Chinese-language proficiency as well as knowledge of Chinese martial arts, songs and poetry. Their feats impressed the judges and audience.

The 2016 regional college competition involved universities from Kentucky, Idaho, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia, as 15 students competed for a place in the global finals in China.

The three-part contest asks non-native Chinese-language students to prepare a speech in Chinese, create a short cultural performance piece, and answer China-related questions in a Q&A segment.

The winner of the region's competition goes on to the final round to compete with students from around the world.

Day, a junior at BYU in Utah, took the first prize for his exceptional demonstration of Chinese-language proficiency, along with a comedy routine.