Competitions and other extension opportunities

Competitions

Hong Kong Olympiad in Informatics

Started in 1997, Hong Kong Olympiad in Informatics (HKOI) is a prestigious annual programming competition for secondary school students, focusing on algorithmic problem-solving and programming skills, and serving as the preliminary selection contest for the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) Hong Kong team.

Website: https://hkoi.org/en/hkoi/

  • STC team selection starts in September. Make sure you have registered your interest with me early as we typically have more students wanting to participate than places available (in which case we run a an internal shortlisting test).

Hong Kong Girls’ Olympiad in Infomatics

Hong Kong Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics (HKGOI) is an annual programming competition specifically designed for female secondary school students, promoting their participation and excellence in computer science, and serving as the preliminary selection contest for the European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics (EGOI) Hong Kong team.

Website: https://hkoi.org/en/hkgoi/

  • STC team selection starts in September. Make sure you have registered your interest with me early as we typically have more students wanting to participate than places available (in which case we run a an internal shortlisting test).

Hong Kong Secondary Schools Coding Challenge

Held in July each year, the HKSSCC is an individual competition in a similar form to the international olympiad informatics (IOI) contest. Cash prizes available.

Imperial Hackathon

Imperial College London, in collaboration with HK Science Park, are running a Hackathon in HK for Secondary students.

Join us on 13 October at Hong Kong Science Technology Park (HKSTP) in Hong Kong for an exciting Hackathon event to collaborate with like-minded individuals and make a real impact. 

Why Join?

  • Showcase Talents: Tackle real-world problems and showcase their solutions to the world! Learn from Leading Experts: Gain invaluable mentorship from Imperial’s Dyson School of Design Engineering faculty and industry leaders (e.g. Cathay Pacific & Google).
  • Boost Their University Applications: This is a valuable Super-Curricular Activity (SCA) that can showcase students’ skills and passion to selective UK universities. By participating, they’ll develop academic skillsets that will strengthen their university applications.
  • Win Big Prizes: Compete for fantastic prizes and recognitions from Imperial College London.
  • Network & Connect: Build lasting relationships with other passionate students from Hong Kong and beyond!

Ready to Participate?

  • Form a Team: Gather your friends or classmates and register for the Hackathon.
  • Submit Your Application: Fill out the application form below and tell us about your team’s interests, skills, and innovative ideas.

Key info:

  • Applications open: 1 September 2024
  • Video proposal deadline: 23 September 2024 (23.59 HKT); Early submission is highly recommended due to limited spaces.
  • Finalists announced: 3 October 2024
  • Final Pitch & Grand Finale: October 13, 2024 at Hong Kong Science Park
  • Website: https://www.imperialhackathonhk.com/

MIT EWB (Engineering without borders) Science & Engineering competition

Perse Coding Team Challenge

Round 1: Monday 27 January – Friday 7 February 2025 (for pairs (or solo, if necessary) sharing one computer) Round 2: Monday 10 March – Friday 21 March 2025 (three students to participate together, maximum of two Years 10-11 students allowed per team)

Canadian Computing Competition

Canada’s version of the HKOI.

Thursday 20 February 2025

The Canadian Computing Competition (CCC) is a fun challenge for participants with an interest in programming. Designed to be both accessible to participants with some programming experience and to challenge the keenest programmers at the secondary school level, the CCC helps participants build confidence and grow their ability to understand, design, and implement algorithms.

Coding Quest

Monday 3 March to Friday 14 March, 2025

https://codingquest.io/

Coding Quest is an annual competition specifically for secondary students to showcase their knowledge and understanding of algorithm design, data structures and computational thinking. There are no prizes, just bragging rights. Coding Quest exists mostly for students to compete against themselves. Last year there were 760 students from 97 schools who participated. Previous problems remain open on the website to try.

Advent of code

For those who are a little nerdy and enjoy pushing your limits with programming, it is a lot of fun - a highlight of the calendar I look forward to every year.

There are 25 days of programming puzzles, 2 each day from 1 December to 25 December. Problems are released at 1:00pm Hong Kong time.

The puzzles start straight-forward and then get more complex as the days progress. There are no prizes, just bragging rights. I normally don’t do the puzzle until the evening, giving you a head-start of a few hours each day to have the chance to beat your teacher that day!

Join the internal STC competition leaderboard with this code on the website: 1219353-dde8b797

ESF Co Co

Organized by current ESF students to encourage and influence student interest in computer science from a young age. Renowned Industry leaders and institutes host interactive workshops and deliver informative talks to invoke your interest and passion for technology and computing. Additionally, a large-scale Hackathon will challenge your creativity and innovation.

NASA Space Apps Challenge

The NASA international SpaceApps challenge is an annual 48 hours hackathon organized by NASA and local hosts around the globe. The challenge addresses the great challenges we are facing on Earth and in space by connecting NASA’s data with coders, makers, designers and dreamers around the world. Occurs over 2 days, October 1 & 2, 2022. Registrations in July.

Research opportunities

City University of Hong Kong

The Summer Research Internship provides opportunities for secondary school students to undertake engineering-related research attachments for approximately one month at CityU during the summer 2024. Students will be actively engaged in CityU laboratories under the supervision of CityU PhD students and a faculty member as an advisor.

Key info:

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The Junior Researcher Mentoring Programme aims to:

  • Deepen students’ understanding of a chosen research topic;
  • Nurture students’ analytical and research skills;
  • Introduce our undergraduate programmes to students and help them make informed university programme choices; and
  • Connect them with our faculty members to have a better understanding of the study life at PolyU.

Key info:

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