Explore student competitions.

QUICK SUMMARY

Rated Beginner, ACSL Elementary Division is a four-contest online computer science series built around short, non-programming problems in a different topic each round. Students in grades 3–6 join through an adult adviser and compete on a registered school, organisation or local-group team. The main challenge is learning unfamiliar computer science ideas and applying them accurately during a compact six-question timed test.

QUICK SUMMARY

Rated Advanced, this international Astro Pi challenge is for teams of two to six young people aged 19 or under with a mentor. Teams write and test Python code that uses space-station sensor or camera data to calculate orbital speed. The main challenge is building a reliable scientific method, validating calculations and meeting strict program constraints.

QUICK SUMMARY

Rated Advanced, A global, free team challenge in which students build a functional coded or AI-enabled solution to a real community problem. Open to ages 8–18 in teams of one to five, with three age-based divisions and track options that depend on local programme availability. Success requires sustained coding, user research, testing, ethical reflection, technical explanation and a persuasive pitch, with division-specific documentation and several international judging stages.

QUICK SUMMARY

Rated Advanced, A free online UK codebreaking competition built around a serial mystery and ten progressively harder weekly chapters. Anyone may participate individually or in a team, while prizes are reserved for eligible UK and Channel Islands school-level entrants. Success requires sustained cryptanalysis, careful checking, self-written tools and increasingly sophisticated reasoning across the full season.

QUICK SUMMARY

A UK computational thinking competition where students solve interactive logic and problem-solving tasks online. Open to young people aged 6–19 through schools, clubs or home-education coordinators. Rated Beginner Level, with difficulty mainly coming from unfamiliar puzzles, logical reasoning and working accurately within the 45-minute limit.

QUICK SUMMARY

Rated Intermediate, A free United States challenge introducing computational thinking through short logic and informatics problems rather than coding syntax. Students aged 6-18 participate in six age groups through a registered school or homeschool coordinator during the November challenge window. No programming background is required, but efficient decomposition, pattern recognition and careful risk management matter under the 45-minute scoring format.

QUICK SUMMARY

Difficulty varies by division from Intermediate to Advanced, A team-based computer science league with four online contests, five divisions and an invitational online Finals. Students in grades 3-12 enter through a registered school, organization or local group, with an advisor selecting the division. Upper divisions combine computer science questions with programming; Classroom and Elementary are non-programming. Consistent performance across the season is the main challenge.

QUICK SUMMARY

An Ireland-based computational thinking competition where students solve online logic and problem-solving tasks inspired by computer science. Open to primary and secondary-school students across Ireland through participating schools, with age-based categories. Rated Beginner Level, with difficulty mainly coming from unfamiliar puzzles, logical reasoning and age-appropriate problem-solving.

QUICK SUMMARY

Rated Advanced, A coach-led high-school programming contest run at Lockheed Martin sites and online. Teams of two or three students enter through a coach and use one or more supported programming languages. Teams choose problems strategically, implement reliable solutions quickly and manage submissions across a fixed contest window.

QUICK SUMMARY

Rated Intermediate, An online capture-the-flag competition built around practical cybersecurity challenges. Players aged 13 and over form teams online, while prizes and categories have additional eligibility rules. Success depends on technical range, persistence, creative investigation and careful teamwork across many challenge types.

QUICK SUMMARY

Rated Advanced, This national team competition asks students to secure virtual operating systems and solve networking tasks across a season of online events. Middle- and high-school teams enter through a coach at an eligible school or approved youth organisation. Success requires practical system administration, careful teamwork and reliable performance during tightly timed live sessions.

QUICK SUMMARY

Rated Advanced, this algorithmic competition serves lower and upper secondary students in British schools. Participants begin with an online open round, and leading performers progress to a final. The central challenge is translating unfamiliar problems into precise algorithms, implementing efficient solutions and testing them carefully enough to perform reliably under competition time limits.