All Ireland Linguistics Olympiad 2026/27 (AILO)
Rated Advanced, AILO is an all-island school competition built around unfamiliar-language puzzles that reward logic, pattern finding and precise explanation rather than learned vocabulary. Second-level students enter through a teacher, with separate Junior and Senior awards but the same puzzles and marking. The main challenge is sustaining original multi-step reasoning across unfamiliar linguistic data and expressing the inferred rules clearly.
Verified information
Competition details can change. Always confirm dates, eligibility and entry requirements on the official organiser's website.
Official website ↗LEVEL BY DIVISION
Advanced Level
Competition overview
Key information
School level
Second-level students on the island of Ireland
Registration method
School Only
Competition stages
Preliminary Round; National Final (individual and team); possible IOL selection subject to funding
Fee
Not yet announced by the organiser
Online / in-person
Hybrid
Dates
Competition timeline
Registration opens
Not yet announced by the organiser
Registration closes
6 Nov 2026
Competition starts
Not yet announced by the organiser
Competition ends
Not yet announced by the organiser
Editorial perspective
Our Take
AILO is run by ADAPT, the Research Ireland Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, and its current brochure reports more than 60,000 contestants. AILO uses unfamiliar-language puzzles to introduce secondary students to linguistics and logical problem solving without requiring prior knowledge of linguistics or foreign languages. That combination is the point: this is not a vocabulary test dressed up as an olympiad. It asks a student to treat language as a system, notice what changes, and explain the rule that makes the examples fit. The current brochure’s Hawaiian sample asks students to infer kinship distinctions that English does not encode in the same way. This is a useful clue to the character of the competition. Strong entrants are not necessarily the students who speak the most languages; they are the ones willing to compare small pieces of evidence, hold several hypotheses in mind, and abandon a neat idea when one example contradicts it. Preparation can be light but should be specific: a few well-chosen past puzzles, discussed slowly and checked carefully, are more valuable than broad language trivia or intensive drilling.
Read full guide →Preparation support
Recommended resources
AILO Puzzle Bank
Open resource ↗Official competition puzzles and solutions for practising language-pattern analysis across difficulty levels.
Official · Free · Past puzzles & solutions · Essential
AILO Sample Puzzle Sets
Open resource ↗Curated starter sets that introduce the logic, scripts and grammatical patterns used in AILO problems.
Official · Free · Sample problem sets · Essential
AILO Workshop Materials
Open resource ↗Official teaching and workshop resources for building systematic linguistic problem-solving skills.
Official · Free · Workshop materials · Recommended
AILO 2027 Competition Guide
Open resource ↗Current official guide covering eligibility, format, dates and participation requirements.
Official · Free · Competition guide PDF · Recommended