Healthy competition is a great way to motivate students to work hard and try their best. For teens learning how to code, high school computer science competitions are an exciting way to challenge themselves, explore their interests in technology, and gain valuable experiences that benefit them both academically and personally.
Whether your child is studying computer science in school or one of our coding classes, it’s a benefit to apply their skills outside of the classroom setting to see if they will translate and find places to improve. Competing is also something that students can add to their college application to show their passion and dedication. Working on a team is a chance to meet like-minded friends and learn from them.
Depending on their skills and interests, there are several different competitions they can join. These 13 are our top picks for computer science competitions for high school students.
13 Computer Science Competitions for High School Students
- USA Computing Olympiad (USACO)
- The National Youth Cyber Defense Competition
- Imagine Cup
- NASA App Development Challenge
- MIT THINK Scholars Program
- Technovation Girls Challenge
- Congressional App Challenge
- FIRST Robotics Competition
- VEX robotics competition
- Girls Programming League Challenge
- HPE CodeWars
- Stanford ProCo
- Bebras
1. USA Computing Olympiad (USACO)
Virtual | Free
The USA Computing Olympiad is a competition created to find the best students for the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), the most prestigious international computing contest at the high school level, as well as the European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics (EGOI). Based on the results of the web-based contests throughout the year, approximately two dozen students are invited as finalists to the training camp, hosted at Clemson University. Camp culminates in the selection of 4 students to represent the USA at the IOI and EGOI
There are typically four algorithmic programming competitions during the academic year from December through early spring. Depending on your child’s coding experience, the questions are offered in four divisions for novice (Bronze) to advanced students (Platinum). Students answer the questions individually and responses are submitted in C, C++, Python or Java. There are example problems and solutions from past competitions here.
Why compete: There are no cash prizes, but the possibility of being on the national team is a big accomplishment. The questions are also great practice for coding students.
2. The National Youth Cyber Defense Competition
Virtual | Paid
The National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, hosted by CyberPatriot, puts teams of 2-6 students in the position of newly hired IT professionals managing the network of a small company. Teams are given virtual operating systems and have to compete in multiple rounds to find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities while maintaining critical services. Each team, with the support of a coach and mentor, has to complete two challenges during their six-hour competition period: The Network Security Challenge and The Cisco Networking Challenge.
The competition provides access to 12 training modules and 4 practice rounds before the scored competition kicks off. They have access to archived training materials on the public side of the website. The top teams in the nation win a trip to the National Finals Competition. There they earn national recognition and scholarship money, like $50,000 from Northrop Grumman.
Why compete: There are very few competitions that cover cybersecurity in-depth. The structure of this competition provides a lot of training, education, and practice along with mentorship.
3. Imagine Cup
Virtual | Free
The Imagine Cup is hosted by Microsoft and helps student founders turn their innovative ideas into market-ready startups. This competition is for high school and college students ages 18 and up. In this competition, students compete virtually in teams of up to . They are challenged to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Microsoft Cloud to build a startup. They get the freedom to create any solution they are passionate about, but it must include at least one Microsoft AI service and consider diversity, inclusion, and accessibility.
Students compete in multiple rounds including the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Round, Semifinals Round, and World Championship. Through each round, teams will improve their product and gain benefits including access to Azure credits and industry-leading AI services, mentorship, and guidance. The winners of the World Championship will receive $100,000 USD and an exclusive mentoring session with Microsoft Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella.
Why compete: For entrepreneurs, the large cash prize provides the ability to fund their dream business and get support from mentors at Microsoft.
4. NASA App Development Challenge
In-person | Free
The App Development Challenge (ADC) is a coding challenge in which NASA presents technical problems to middle and high school students seeking student contributions to deep space exploration missions. As long as it can be completed in one semester with a $1,000 budget, almost anything is fair game!
Students compete in teams of at least 5 students led by a Lead Teacher. In this year’s challenge, teams of middle school or high school teams had 10 weeks to create a video showcasing their application visualizing the flight path of Artemis II, while indicating which of SCaN’s antennas are available to communicate with Earth in real-time. Teams advance to present their app in an interview with NASA subject matter experts from the SCaN team. NASA will select the top teams for a culminating event experience in April. Use any programming language (Java, C#, C++, Scratch, etc.) to complete development of an application.
Why compete: This competition focuses on space exploration and students win the opportunity to meet NASA professionals.
5. MIT THINK Scholars Program
In-person and Virtual | Free
The THINK program (Technology for Humanity guided by Innovation, Networking, and Knowledge) is organized by undergraduates at MIT and aims to provides mentorship, funding, and resources to high school students working on science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) projects. Rather than requiring students to have completed a research project before applying, THINK caters to students who have done extensive research on the background of a potential research project, but lack the resources to complete the project themselves.
To compete, students have to identify a problem and write an essay as well as a proposal pitching the project and how it can solve the problem. Selected finalists have weekly mentorship meetings with THINK team members for technical guidance, helpful resources, and updates on the projects progress and are given up to $1,000 in funding for their project. Finalists from 2023 worked on projects like Wall-Climbing Robot in Disaster Zones and Echo: A Sound Solution For Mapping and Navigation in Firefighting.
Why compete: An opportunity for students to fund the app or research they are already passionate about.
6. Technovation Girls Challenge
Virtual | Free
This global competition inspires girls (participants who identify as female, trans, non-binary, or gender nonconforming), ages 8 to 18, to make a difference in their communities using technology. Working in teams of 1 to 5, girls find a problem in their community and build a mobile or web app to help solve it. In 2024, students tackled problems like Climate change, domestic violence, financial independence, and accessibility. Along the way, these girls develop their collaboration, problem-solving, and leadership skills.
High school students can compete in the Junior Division (13-15 years old) or Senior Division (16-18 years old). Generally, the submissions include a pitch video, technical video, business plan, and mobile or web app source code. Judges then select 15 finalist teams from around the world to attend Technovation’s World Summit in person. Finalist teams will receive a $500/person educational stipend. At the global World Summit event, judges will select 3 Grand Prize Winners and each member of the Grand Prize winning teams will receive a $750/person educational stipend.
Why compete: Teens can win money for school while addressing real problems and making a difference in their community.
7. Congressional App Challenge
Virtual | Free
The Congressional App Challenge is a district-wide competition hosted by members of Congress for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. The competition is available in participating districts and engages students from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the tech community. The Congressional App Challenge is also transforming how Congress members view and advocate for computer science and STEM.
Students register as individuals or as teams of up to four to submit an original app, written in any programming language, that addresses a problem locally, nationally, or globally. U.S. Representatives publicly recognize the winning teams and each winning app may be put on display in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year along with additional prizes.
Why compete: This is a prestigious award and while it focuses on app development, there is a lot of room for creativity. Teens can address problems and be recognized nationally.
8. FIRST Robotics Competition
In-person or Virtual | Paid
FIRST is one of the most popular robotics competitions for high school students, ages 14-18. Teams practice year-round for the competition. Starting with a Kit of Parts, teams of high school students design, program, and build industrial-sized robots to play an action-packed game. They compete on a themed field as part of a three-team alliance in the spirit of Coopertition, meaning that teams help and cooperate with each other even as they compete.
These competitions combine the excitement of a sporting event with the rigors of science and technology. Teams are made of two adult mentors and 10 or more high school-aged students. Each FIRST Robotics Competition team also creates a team identity, raises funds to meet its goals, and advances appreciation for STEM in its community. The FIRST Robotics Competition season culminates with district and regional events where qualifying teams compete for awards and a spot at the FIRST Championship. Instead of a cash reward, the competition features a variety of awards recognizing different aspects of a team’s performance, including engineering, design, teamwork, community outreach, and leadership.
Why compete: No cash prize, but this is a fun team sport that develops both coding and robotics skills. It’s a good year-round versus one-off activity.
9. VEX robotics competition
In-person or Virtual | Paid
The VEX V5 Robotics Competition is for students in grades 6-12. This competition prepares students to become future innovators and increase their interest in STEM and related careers. During a VEX Robotics competition, teams of students compete by designing, building, and programming robots to play a specific game on a designated field. They are usually paired into alliances to work together against other alliances, aiming to score the most points by completing tasks within a set time limit.
Tournaments are held in person year-round at the regional, state, and national levels and culminate at the VEX Robotics World Championship! Standard matches are comprised of two alliances of two teams each playing against each other. There are also unique contests using CAD, animation, essays, and more for students who want to participate virtually.
Why compete: For a robotics competition, it is accessible and beginner-friendly with simpler robot designs.
10. Girls Programming League Challenge
Virtual | Free
The Girls Programming League Challenge is a competition aimed at inspiring and empowering high school and middle school females to learn computer science and STEM. It’s a one-day virtual event including a 2-hour competition session in the morning and keynote speeches and panel discussions in the afternoon. This past challenge included speakers Katelyn Sweeney from SpaceX and Dr. Jessie Christiansen from NASA to give a female perspective on the state of computer science and astronomy.
Students compete in teams of 1-3 people in either the Novice or Advanced division. In each division, the contest will consist of 10 algorithmic programming problems of varying difficulty to be solved in 2 hours using Java, Python or C++. Awards of up to $100 per team member are given to the winning teams.
Why compete? While there is a small cash prize, this challenge includes a lot of training and advice that the others don’t by hosting speakers and panel discussions.
11. HPE CodeWars
In-person or Virtual | Free
Hewlett Packard Enterprise hosts the CodeWars competition for high school students, ages 13-18. This event combines a high-tech setting, a wide range of programming challenges, plenty of programmer food, music, plus giveaways – all in an exciting, stimulating, and competitive environment. This competition requires beginner knowledge of coding. So, if a student cannot get a “hello world” program to compile and run on their own, they are not ready to be placed on a CodeWars team yet.
Teams are sponsored by a teacher, or a school-affiliated person, and can enter in the Novice or Advanced division. During the competition, teams of 2-3 students, answer coding problems with the goal of solving as many problems as possible in 3 hours. Each problem carries a point value, with values increasing with problem difficulty. At the end, the teams with the most points win! Submissions can be written in C, C++, Java, and Python 3. Winners are awarded trophies, media recognition, and an opportunity for fun projects. Everyone has the chance to win items from a list of products worth $15,000!
Why compete: This competition is all about the code so it’s helpful for students who want to focus on developing their programming skills.
12. Stanford ProCo
In-person | Free
ProCo is a computer programming contest for high school students in the style of the college-level ACM-ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest). The competition aims to provide a fun and engaging opportunity for high school students in the Bay Area to explore their passion for computer science.
The ProCo, like the ICPC, is a timed competition where teams of up to three students solve real-world problems using algorithmic solutions. The ProCo lasts 3 hours and consists of 9 – 15 unweighted problems. The contest is split into two separate divisions: Novice and Advanced. Students can provide answers in either of these four languages: C, C++, Java, and Python 3+. Depending on the competition, there may be prizes and raffles, including laptops, headphones, chairs, and more.
Why compete: Teens can experience a college-level competition and interact with Stanford computer science students.
13. Bebras
In-person | Free
Bebras is an international initiative aiming to promote Informatics (Computer Science, or Computing) and computational thinking among school students from 6 to 18. The challenge is coordinated by a teacher and takes place in the classroom. There are six different age categories, each with a set of tasks to keep things exciting and challenging. High school students can compete as Cadets (age 12-14), Juniors (age 14-16), or Seniors (age 16-18).
During the competition, each group will get 3 sets of 5 tasks. The 3 sets each have a level of difficulty: easy, medium, or hard. They will have 45 minutes to complete as many tasks as they can. The tasks can all be completed without any preparation or studying. In some regions, there are regional finals. The best students from each age group are invited to spend a day at a university working on more exciting tasks. Teachers can reward the students with a certificate of achievement.
Why compete: Get a solid introduction to computation thinking for beginners and does not require any coding experience.
What to look for in a computer science competition?
There’s likely a computer science competition that will match your child’s interest. Consider these criteria when deciding which is best:
- Individual vs group competitions: Would your child prefer to work with a team or try it on their own? Some competitions allow students to compete individually while others require more than 2 to compete.
- Coding languages used: Most competitions outline a few languages that students can use in the competition. Teens will want to align their experience with these guidelines. For example, students who are studying JavaScript may not have the coding skills for a Python-based competition.
- Sponsor or mentor required: Your child might also need support from sponsors or mentors to compete. While it’s always nice to have, some competitions require a school or adult team sponsor to participate. This is often a teacher or other school-related adult.
- Skill Level: Most competitions are broken down by age, but others are solely on skill level. Consider your child’s coding skill level and what the competition requires. If your child has just started, a challenge for a completed app may be above their skill level.
- Format: There are competitions that take place both online and in person, depending on what your teen prefers. A few have initial levels virtually and semifinals or finals in person.
- Cost: Free competitions are available, but others have costs including registration fees, training materials, travel costs, or event supplies. Teens may want to start with free competitions to gauge their interest.
Why should teens participate in a coding competition?
High school students who are learning how to code will benefit a lot from participating in coding competitions. Students have the opportunity to take their skills outside of the classroom and put them to the test. This competitive environment is just what it takes for students to learn from each other and challenge themselves. They also explore their interests in technology and gain valuable experiences that benefit them both academically and personally.
1. Expand Their Knowledge
Learning to code means constantly expanding your knowledge and a coding competition can do just that. Coding competitions expose teens to real-world problems, teaching new concepts and solidifying old ones. It is a hands-on opportunity to practice coding languages and apply them outside of the classroom. Some competitions also provide learning opportunities and teaching modules or keynote speakers for kids to participate in.
2. Build Their Skills
Computer science competitions typically emphasize logical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork to tackle challenges. Teens apply the skills they learn while coding to a bigger project. In timed competitions, there’s also the added pressure to solve problems quickly and effectively. Coding competitions put the textbook lessons to practice. It’s a chance to apply the knowledge that teens learn in a practical way.
3. Meet New People
In coding competition, just like the real-world, coding isn’t done alone. At competitions, teens can network and collaborate with peers and mentors. Through these events they build relationships that often go beyond just learning to code. Coding competitions bring together students, mentors, and industry professionals, fostering valuable connections.
4. Add to College Applications
Colleges are seeking high school students who demonstrate their initiative, drive, and passion. Competing in coding challenges shows admissions officers that teens are bringing these skills to their school as well as a love of learning. This is a great way to distinguish one student from other applicants.
5. Learn Teamwork
Many computer science competitions require teamwork, helping students improve communication, leadership, and collaborative problem-solving skills. These skills are important for school and in the workforce.
6. Win Scholarships and Prizes
Of course, you can’t forget the prizes! These range from scholarships to cash prizes to trips. Students can also win certificates, trophies, or even opportunities to present at prestigious events. While the biggest benefit of the coding competitions is the skills teens will learn, the additional prizes are just the cherry on top.
Learn Computer Science in High School
These computer science competitions all offer a unique educational opportunity for high school students. Pick the competition that most interests your teen to get started!
If your high school student has no experience coding but wants to compete, start their journey in our top-rated coding classes for kids.
Our coding program features a structured curriculum where students build on their skills as they advance. In the high school coding program, teens learn to build websites, apps, and games in Python and JavaScript. They also engage in problem-solving, computational thinking, and They’ll learn the skills they need to compete and have the support of our community behind them. View programs and enroll today.
