Do you want to show off your coding skills? Coding competitions are a great way to put your coding skills to the test and win prizes and awards! Coding competitions for kids and teens not only give you the chance to show off your coding skills, but they also help strengthen your creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork skills.
Discover top coding contests for kids & teens
Check out some of these top coding competitions for kids and teens. Many of these are available worldwide and free to participate.
Coding contests for beginners
1. CodeChef
CodeChef offers coding competitions and contests for beginners to learn competitive coding. They also offer practice problems and monthly contests to help build skills and confidence in competitive coding. Competitions occur online throughout the year.
Grades: K-12
2. American Computer Science League
The American Computer Science League (ACSL) is an international coding competition among over 300 schools. Competitions occur online throughout the year and consist of four contests. Each contest consists of a written section to analyze code and a programming section.
Grades: K-12
The Bebras Computing Challenge consists of problems in various topics related to informatics and computational thinking. Kids have 45 minutes to complete as many of the 15 problems as they can in the online competition.
Ages: 6-18 years old
Scratch coding competitions
Our live online Scratch coding classes are a great way to prepare for Scratch contests.
The Scratch Olympiad is a coding contest for kids all around the world. Kids can participate individually or in teams and submit a Scratch project they create to the contest.
Ages: 7 years old and up
5. International Kids Coding Competition
The International Kids Coding Competition (IKCC) is a Scratch coding competition. Kids from all around the world participate in the competition by submitting projects they create in Scratch. The IKCC hosts competitions throughout the year and in different topics.
Ages: 7-14 years old
Date to submit: May 31st, 2022
Coding contests for girls
Here are a few fun coding for girls contests and challenges.
The Technovation Challenge invites teams of girls to solve real-world problems. Teams around the world create apps to solve problems. Technovation also hosts events in local chapters.
Ages: 8-18 years old
7. Code/Art Code Yourself Competition
The Code/Art Code Yourself competition combines creativity, art, and coding to inspire girls to pursue computer science while also challenging societal views of what a coder looks like. Beginner and experienced coders are encouraged to participate.
Grades: 3-12
8. Code Girls United NW Regional App Challenge
The Code Girls United NW Regional App Challenge gives young girls the opportunity to create a coding project and present it to a panel of judges. Girls compete in teams of 2-5 and present an app they develop and business plan for an opportunity to show off their skills and win prizes.
Grades: Grades 4-8
Date to submit: April 30, 2022
Computer science competitions
Here are some fascinating computer science competitions.
9. International Olympiad in Informatics
The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is an annual international coding competition for secondary students. Students are chosen to represent their country after participating in national competitions to participate in the IOI.
Grades: 6-12
Date to submit: August 22, 2022
10. Congressional App Challenge
The Congressional App Challenge is a prestigious competition designed to encourage creativity. Students create and submit an app using any programming language and about any theme or topic they choose.
To get ready for the challenge, we recommend your child completes Mobile Coding for Apps and Games to learn about Thunkable or Build Your Web to master HTML/CSS/Javascript.
Then they can join our Congressional App Challenge Mentoring Classes to build their project for the challenge from end to end, guided by our experienced teachers.
Grades: 6-12
Date to submit: November 1, 2022
11. MIT THINK Scholars Program
The MIT THINK Scholars Program awards high school students with mentoring and funding for research projects. This program aims to support students who are looking for additional guidance on a project they are interested in. Students submit a proposal for a project in any field that can be completed within a semester.
Grades: 9-12
12. NASA App Development Challenge
The NASA 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. By responding to the ADC, students take a part directly in the Artemis Generation endeavors to land American astronauts, including the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.
Grades: 9-12
Date to submit: The challenge begins on October 5, 2022, and concludes with video submissions on December 14, 2022.
Robotics competitions
Our robotics classes and robotics camps are a great way to get ready for these fun robotics competitions.
The First LEGO League gives kids real-world problems through a guided, global robotics program and consists of three divisions based on age groups. Kids from all around the world have the opportunity to show off their coding, creativity, and critical thinking skills to solve problems. Events and competitions occur all year.
Ages: 4 and up
The World Robot Olympiad allows students to compete in various categories, including Robo Mission, Robo Sports, and Future Innovators. The competition uses LEGO Mindstorms to have kids solve problems and compete against kids from all over the world.
Grades/ages: 8-19 years old
15. National Robotics Challenge
The National Robotics Challenge helps students improve their understanding of automation and robotics. Kids work with simple materials and kits to design robots that solve problems, such as navigating mazes or search and rescue tasks.
Grades: K-12
Enjoy coding contests & competitions for kids & teens
There are many coding contests for kids and teens to show off your coding skills and win prizes and awards! You can practice your coding skills by taking one of our Scratch coding classes, Python for kids classes, or mobile app development for kids classes.
Written by Jamila Cocchiola who has always been fascinated with technology and its impact on the world. The technologies that emerged while she was in high school showed her all the ways software could be used to connect people, so she learned how to code so she could make her own! She went on to make a career out of developing software and apps before deciding to become a teacher to help students see the importance, benefits, and fun of computer science.
