The 10 Most Prestigious Coding Competitions for High School Students
Participating in coding competitions as a high school student offers a range of benefits. It sharpens problem-solving abilities, enhances coding skills, fosters creativity, and provides a competitive advantage in the tech-driven job market. Beyond academics, it cultivates a passion for programming, nurtures teamwork, and opens doors to scholarships and prestigious opportunities, laying a solid foundation for future success in the dynamic field of technology.
In this article, we have curated a list of ten of the most prestigious coding competitions prospective computer science majors should consider in high school.
Microsoft’s Imagine Cup aims to recognize outstanding software creations using Microsoft tools and technology, emphasizing innovation, accessibility, and groundbreaking solutions. This is a team-oriented event where your team can opt for one of three streams — AI, Social Impact, or Mixed Reality — and develop a technological project addressing a relevant issue within that stream.
In addition to utilizing Microsoft tools, participants are encouraged to showcase proficiency in UI and UX design as part of their project development. Be sure to complete the student-focused training to help you through the competition!
Check out this guide on everything you need to know to win the Microsoft Imagine Cup!
Prize: Winning teams are awarded $100,000, mentorship from Microsoft experts, and grant money.
Location: Virtual
Registration Deadline: Registrations are currently open with no specified deadline here!
Competition Dates:
Jan 26 — Feb 9, 2024: Minimal Viable Product (MVP) Submissions
Feb 23 — April 12, 2024: Semi-Finals
May 2024: World Championship
Eligibility: Must be 16 or older. You’re welcome to imagine any solution that you’re passionate about that includes a Microsoft Azure component and takes into consideration diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. Maximum four (4) members per team.
2. Congressional App Challenge
The district-wide Congressional App Challenge for middle and high school students is organized by members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The primary goal of this competition is to inspire students to address real-world challenges through coding and problem-solving. In addition to mastering commonly used programming languages, participants will find it beneficial to acquaint themselves with various app development platforms such as XCode or Kotlin.
Here is everything you need to know to win the Congressional App Challenge!
Prize: Winning apps are eligible to be displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building and featured on the House of Representatives’ website. Winners are also invited to attend a reception on Capitol Hill and may be awarded additional sponsor prizes.
Location: Virtual
Registration Deadline: No deadline specified but pre-registrations for the competition are currently open here!
Competition Dates: The competition will launch in late Spring 2024 and the submission deadline is November 1st, 2024.
Eligibility: Must be a middle or high school student in a participating congressional district and must also be residents of such district. Teams may not have more than 4 members.
3. American Computer Science League (ACSL)
ACSL takes the lead in arranging computer programming and computer science contests designed for K-12 schools, organizations, and local groups. With a range of divisions, ACSL offers challenges suitable for students of various ages and abilities.
The competition season unfolds through four contests, delving into fundamental computer science concepts, from Number Systems and Boolean Algebra to Digital Electronics. In the upper divisions, each contest presents a programming challenge, allowing students to demonstrate their proficiency using languages like Python, C++, or Java.
Check out this complete guide to ACSL!
Prize: Certificates and cash prizes
Location: Virtual
Registration Deadline: TBA for 2025. ACSL registrations for the 2023–2024 contest year are closed.
Competition Dates: TBA for 2025. Historically, there have been multiple qualifying rounds.
Eligibility: Must be an elementary, middle, or high school student. Please check if your school has registered for the competition.
4. Stanford ACM | Stanford ProCo
Stanford ProCo, designed for high school students and inspired by the collegiate ACM-ICPC, is a coding competition that challenges teams of up to three individuals to solve algorithmic problems. The competition spans 3 hours and features 9 to 15 unweighted problems.
Participants can submit solutions in C, C++, Java, and Python 3.6. This contest is a rigorous test of your algorithmic thinking, requiring adept debugging and troubleshooting skills to effectively navigate the challenges. Stanford ProCo includes both novice and advanced categories to accommodate participants with varying levels of expertise.
Prize: Variety of Prizes offered, TBA. Previous years have included Raspberry pis, Nintendo 3DSes, and Ipad minis.
Location: Stanford Campus
Registration Deadline: TBA for 2024 in the spring term. Registration typically opens 1 to 1.5 months before ProCo.
Competition Dates: TBA for 2024 in the spring term.
Eligibility: High School Students in the Bay Area, teams of max three people.
5. USA Computing Olympiad (USACO)
This marks the national round of the esteemed International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), recognized as one of the five international science olympiads. The IOI stands out as one of the most prestigious computer science competitions globally. The competition unfolds over two days, emphasizing computer programming, coding, and problem-solving of an algorithmic nature.
The USACO places a strong emphasis on fundamental skills, particularly algorithmic thinking. Beyond proficiency in common competitive programming languages like Java, C++, or Python, participants benefit from a robust understanding of fundamental algorithms and data structures, along with knowledge of Big-O notations and algorithmic bottlenecks.
Here are 10 great resources to help you prepare for USACO!
Prize: Winners from this and other, similar national rounds attend the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) and other international olympiads.
Location: TBA for the 2024–25 season
Registration Deadline: TBA for 2024–25 season
Competition Dates: TBA for the 2024–25 season. Usually runs in 4 qualifying rounds from December to March, as per the 2023–24 schedule.
Eligibility: Must be a high school student
The Technovation Challenge stands as a cost-free, worldwide, technology-focused initiative tailored for girls aged 10–18. Its overarching goal is to ignite inspiration in girls, propelling them to become leaders and innovators. Within the program, girls form teams of 1–5 in one of three divisions, tasked with identifying a community issue and crafting a mobile app to address it.
Beginner Division: Ages 8–12
Junior Division: Ages 13–15
Senior Division: Ages 16–18
This collaborative experience serves to enhance their skills in teamwork, problem-solving, and leadership. As a global tech education nonprofit, Technovation is dedicated to empowering girls, nurturing their leadership abilities, and fostering problem-solving capabilities within their lives and communities.
Prize: Awards of up to $30,000 are available in cash and prizes.
Location: Virtual
Registration Deadline: March 13th, 2024
Competition Dates:
April 24th, 2023: Submission Deadline
Early June 2024: Semifinal Online Judging
Early July 2024: Finalists and Regional Winners announced at a virtual event.
October 2024: Technovation World Summit
Eligibility: Must identify as female and be between 8 and 18 years old. All students must identify as female, trans, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming. Students who are assigned male at birth and self-identify as male cannot enter the competition. Teams are composed of 1 to 5 students. Students can only join 1 team. There is no limit on the number of mentors per team.
7. Carnegie Mellon's picoCTF Competition
CTFs, short for Capture The Flag, represent a specific type of computer security competition where participants are presented with a set of challenges designed to assess their creativity, technical expertise, and problem-solving abilities.
Students often require adept Googling skills.picoCTF is an offensive-oriented high school computer security competition, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University. Challenges cover various categories, and upon successful resolution, contestants obtain a string known as a “flag,” which is then submitted to an online scoring service. It is ideal but in no way necessary for participants to have exposure to Python, HTML, JavaScript, and C for this competition.
Prize: First-place team wins $3,000 and the opportunity to visit CMU for the award ceremony. Second and third-place teams also win cash prizes and attend the award ceremony.
Location: Virtual
Registration Deadline: TBA for 2025. Usually in January.
Competition Dates: TBA for 2025.
Eligibility: Must be at least 13 years old and, if under 18, have consent of parent or legal guardian to participate. Must form a team alone or with up to 4 other eligible US middle/high school students participants in this category. Must be enrolled in a US middle or high school.
FIRST Robotics, a highly esteemed team-based competition, demands precision, collaboration, and ingenuity. Teams face strict rules, time constraints, and limited resources as they design and construct an industrial-sized robot for complex field games at competitions.
Preparation is key, and researching previous years’ competitions is essential for developing effective team strategies. Additionally, the competition challenges participants to showcase non-technical skills by engaging in fundraising activities. Students should familiarize themselves with prototyping, CAD (computer-aided design), and programming languages such as Java, C++, or LabVIEW.
Here are 7 tips to win the FIRST Robotics Competition!
Prize: Scholarships and cash prizes for the top scorers.
Location: A variety of locations as seen here.
Registration Deadline: TBA for 2024, likely to open in March.
Competition Dates: TBA for 2024, usually runs from September to November.
Eligibility: Must be high School Students aged between 14 and 18. Teams must have at least 10 students, with 2 adult mentors. Teams are usually affiliated with schools, local educational institutions, or organizations, so it’s best to check whether such an organization already exists in your community. If not — you can independently organize as well!
9. HPE CodeWars
HPE CodeWars offers high school students a coding competition where teams of three students are challenged to solve 30 progressively difficult problems within a time frame of 3 hours. The programming languages employed in the previous year’s competition included C, C++, Java, and Python 3.
To excel in this competition, it is valuable to hone skills not only in problem-solving and data structures but also in competitive coding techniques such as the two-pointer technique, binary search, and other tools that enhance algorithm efficiency.
Check out this ultimate guide to HPE CodeWars!
Prize: Prize pool for raffle winners and an award.
Location: TBA, but can also be remote
Registration Deadline: Registration opens a month before the competition, and closes two weeks before the start date. No costs associated — apart from travel expenses to in-person competition.
Competition Dates: March 2nd, 2024
Eligibility: Students between the ages of 13 through 18. Teams of the size of 2 to 3 people and an adult sponsor. Sponsors can be sponsors to a max of three teams.
RoboRAVE stands as a global competition where student-crafted robots go head-to-head in friendly competition. This event strongly emphasizes the enjoyment of learning, collaboration, and teamwork. Open to participants from around the world, RoboRAVE originated in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, and has since expanded its reach to numerous countries across five continents.
The competition operates in a team-based format, encouraging participants to refine their skills in coding languages such as Python, Arduino, and Scratch. To enhance your robot’s performance, ample practice time is recommended for those eager to take part in this exciting event.
Prize: Varying amounts of prize money.
Location: Germany (for 2024, TBA for 2025)
Registration deadline: The deadline to register for 2024 was June 18th, 2023. The deadline for 2025 is to be announced. You can register here.
Competition Dates: 17th November, 2024. Detailed schedule is available here.
Eligibility: Age group 1: 10–13; Age group 2: 14–20. A team consists of two to four members. For detailed eligibility criteria, please see here.
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