Every year, students and schools in Victoria, Australia have access to STE(A)M competitions cross-linking all academic subjects, organized by various entities including subject-specific organizations, governmental bodies, private enterprises, and even international associations. While many competitions are free to enter, others require entry fees for individuals or teams.
We have listed below some of the major competitions and challenges that have opened for the 2024 season. Please note this list is not exhaustive by any means and we are continuously adding new ones as they emerge!
Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge
Bebras is a fun and engaging computational thinking challenge for students in Years 3 to 12, including those without prior coding experiences.
Key Dates:
Round 1: Tuesday 23 April to Thursday 9 May 2024
Round 2: Tuesday 8 to Thursday 24 October 2024
For more info:
Computational and Algorithmic Thinking
The Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) competition gives students the opportunity to develop their problem-solving skills through algorithmic thinking.
CAT is suitable for any maths class and requires no programming experience. It can be used to develop students’ interest and potential in computer programming.
Key Dates:
Tuesday 21 to Thursday 23 May 2024
For more info:
Oxford University Computing Challenge
The Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC) helps students develop skills to produce programmed solutions to computational problems.
Participants will need to be familiar with Blockly or other coding languages (depending on the division).
Key Dates:
Round 1: Tuesday 18 to Thursday 20 June 2024
Round 2: Thursday 1 August 2024
For more info:
Australian Informatics Olympiad
Australian Informatics Olympiad (AIO) recognises and challenges students with an interest in computer programming. Participating students will need some programming experience and be able to write code.
Allowed languages are C, C++, Java or Python 3.
Key Dates:
Thursday 29 August 2024
For more info:
Commissioner’s Digital Challenge
The Commissioner’s Digital Challenge can be completed by children at home with their families, at registered schools, in community groups, or at the local library. It is afree recurring year-round digital challenge designed to engage children in learning foundational digital skills.
Key Dates:
Open all year-round.
For more info:
Minecraft Build Comp
The Australian Esports League have partnered with Microsoft Australia to foster creativity and learning through national Minecraft Education Competitions for all School students across Australia.
The competition will feature three pools for years 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12.
Key Dates:
| Series 1 | Series 2 | |
| Registrations close | 15th Mar | 16th Aug |
| Build period | 18th Mar – 24th May | 19th Aug – 18th Oct |
| Results | 10th Jun | 4th Nov |
For more info:
SPIKE Prime™ Challenge
Monday, February 12th 2024 – Competition Launch
Registrations are due Friday, June 14th 2024
Entries are due Friday, June 28th 2024
For more info:
Day of AI 2024
The Day of AI is a full day of highly interactive teaching materials for students Year 5 to Year 10 about artificial intelligence.
The Day of AI materials are designed by MIT, i2Learning, UNSW and CS in Schools to support all teachers with AI education – no need for teachers to have a computer science background.
Key Dates:
The competition will begin at 12.00 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (“AEST”) on 22 January 2024 and end at 5.00pm on 16 June 2024.
For more info:
Westpac Youth Impact Challenge
The Westpac Youth Impact Challenge is a nationwide initiative open to all young people around Australia aged 7 to 21 years.
To take part in the Challenge, participants must identify a local or global problem and brainstorm an innovative business or social change idea to solve it. Participants can choose to work individually, or in a group of up to 3.
Key Dates:
Registrations close Friday, 31 May 2024 at 4:00pm (AEST).
For more info:
NCSS Challenge
The NCSS Challenge is a programming competition open to all school students and teachers run by The Grok Academy.
The NCSS Challenge is for school students from upper primary to all levels of high school and unlike other competitions, you can learn to code as you go along.
Key Dates:
Starts on Monday 12th February, 2024 and runs for about 5 weeks,
For more info:
Young ICT Explorers
Young ICT Explorers (YICTE) is a non-profit competition to encourage primary and high school students in years 3-12 in Australia to solve real-world problems or showcase their passions using technology.
Key Dates:
Registration open now.
Registration Deadline: 01 July 2024
Project Documentation and Submission Deadline: 31 July 2024
Project Review (judging) Dates – all areas
- Senior Years (cat 7 – 8, 9 – 10, 11 – 12): 9 August – 15 September
- Junior Years (cat 3 – 4, 5 – 6): 1 September – 20 October
For more info:
Young Future Shapers
Young Future Shapers is designed for young people in Years 5 to 10, that identify as being from at least one of the following groups: girls; Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students; those from schools in regional areas; or from schools in lower opportunity areas.
The program prioritises young people who have something of an interest in STEM and who would thrive with extra support to boost their confidence, capability and connection with it.
Key Dates:
Nominations open now and close on 25 March 2024 (at 11.59 pm AEDT).
For more info:
Australian STEM Video Game Challenge
A free national video game development
competition for students in years 3 to 12 organised by ACER.
Teams of 1-4 students design and develop a video game based on a given theme- This year’s theme is STARS.
Key Dates:
Registration opens
6 October 2023
Submission window
8 July-22 July 2024
Judging Round 1 (Qualifying)
23-29 July 2024
Qualifying resubmission period
1-8 August, 2024
Judging Round 2 (Semi-finals)
9-19 August, 2024
Judging Round 3 (Finals)
23 August–2 September, 2024
Winners announced
6 September 2024
For more info:
Little Scientists Early STEM Education Awards
This is Australia’s only dedicated awards to celebrate STEM excellence in early childhood education.
If you know a early learning services/ primary classrooms OR early childhood educators/early primary teachers that live and breathe the theme of 2024 ‘Overcoming gender bias in early STEM education’ nominate them now!
Key Dates:
Nominations opens 1 March and closes 31 May 2024.
For more info:
Science Talent Search (STS)
The Science Talent Search (STS) is organised and managed by a volunteer committee with administrative support from the Science Teachers’ Association of Victoria.
Entry to the competition is primarily school-based through a central school STS coordinator.
Key Dates:
Monday 26 February: Entry Registration opens
Sunday 26 May: Entry Registration closes
For more info:
OneWorld Robotics Competition
The OneWorld Robotics Competition offers Australian school students in years 6, 7 and 8 the opportunity to develop and apply critical STEAM survival skills in pursuit of solving real-world challenges we are facing right now.
Key Dates:
MISSION ANNOUNCED: March 2024
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: 15th September 2024
PRACTICE KITS AND PRACTICE PROJECTS RELEASED: 1st October 2024
COMPETITION RULES RELEASED: 1st February 2025
AREA COMPETITIONS BEGIN: May/June 2025
GLOBAL COMPETITION: 2026 @ Sydney
For more info:
Code Quest
Each year, Lockheed Martin hosts Code Quest, an annual computer programming competition where teams of two to three high school students work together to solve problems by using JAVA, Python, C#, and/or C++ programming to complete the “quest”. The problem set consists of 20 to 30 challenging problems created by Lockheed Martin engineers and computer programmers.
For the APAC region, virtual Code Quest will be held on March 23, 2024.
Key Dates:
For more info:
FIRST Australia
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international not-for-profit robotics community preparing young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for ages 4 – 18 and is divided into 3 main programs: FIRST LEGO League (Ages 4 – 16), FIRST Tech Challenge (Ages 12 – 18) and FIRST Robotics Competition (Ages 14 – 18)
Key Dates:
New dates are released all year round.
For more info:
Imagine Cup Junior 2024
Imagine Cup Junior is an exciting opportunity by Microsoft for students aged 5-18 years old to learn about technology and how it can be used to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, while participating in a global student challenge. It’s a great introduction to technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and cybersecurity, and is suitable for all levels, especially beginners.
Key Dates:
Registration for Imagine Cup Junior opened on January 10, 2024 and closes on May 8, 2024 23:59 (GMT+0).
For more info:
micro:bit Smart City STEM Project
The Smart City Project for primary schools in NSW/VIC and ACT is conducted by Sammat Education. Students will be designing their own Smart City projects, automating homes, exploring Smart Agriculture, and envisioning the cities of the future.
Schools can pay for their registration in the competition and will receive comprehensive Classroom Resource Packs, Professional Learning opportunities for teachers and interactive online lessons for students
Key Dates:
Term 1
Resource Packs shipped to Schools
Professional Learning Days for Leading Teachers
Students progress through introductory micro:bit online lessons
Term 2
4 x LIVE Online lessons for Students with Sammat Education
Students progress through Smart City online lessons
Term 3
4 x LIVE Online lessons for Students with Sammat Education
Students progress through Smart City online lessons
Students design and produce their
Smart City projects
Term 4
Students finalise their
Smart City projects
Regional Expo Day
For more info:
Arludo’s National Game Design Challenge
Organised by Arludo- this competition involves students in school years 3-6 working together in teams of 3-5 to design their own science game – no coding required! The Game Design Challenge is free to enter.
Key Dates:
| Challenge registration | 9:00am Monday 26th February 2024 – 11:59pm Friday 18th October 2024 |
| Final submission closing date | 11:59pm Friday 25th October 2024 |
| Shortlisted teams announced | 9:00am Friday 1st November 2024 |
| Public voting for shortlisted entries | 10:00am Friday 1st November 2024 – 11:59pm Friday 22nd November 2024 |
| Top 10 finalists announced | Monday 25th November 2024 |
| Top 3 winners announced | Thursday 28th November 2024 |
For more info:
Victorian Coding Challenge
The Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV) has produced a 2-stage coding challenge, aimed to extend curious minds, nurture passions and support students in refining their coding skills. This program is available to Government and Non-government schools. However, due to this project being funded by the Victorian Department of Education and Training, it is only free to government schools in Victoria. Available to students in Years 5-10.
Key Dates:
REGISTRATION ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED UNTIL TERM 2 2024
For more info:
Scratch Olympiad 2024
Students from 7 years old and adults from any corner of the planet can become participants in the Scratch Olympiad. All you need is a love for coding and a desire to want to improve how you write code using Scratch.
*The International Scratch Creative Programming Olympiad is not affiliated with Scratch or the Scratch Foundation.
Key Dates:
The national selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad 2024 will start from March
For more info:
World Scratch Coding Competition 2024
This is a global competition organised by IKCC (International Kids Coding Competitions).
Students will create NEW and original projects (story, animation, game, mixed, etc…) based on theme of the year (This year’s theme has not yet been announced) All projects must be written in Scratch 3.0 language Having a nice intro, menus, storyline, animation, music and games inside will be a plus!
*This is an INDIVIDUAL competition.
Key Dates:
Register and upload your projects between September 01-30, 2024
The challenge/theme will be announced on September 01, 2024
Find out the winners on October 15, 2024
For more info:
World Robot Olympiad 2024
World Robot Olympiad™ Australia is the newest alternative for Australian students wanting to participate in a world-class robotics competition.
The WRO® theme for 2024 is Earth Allies.WRO operates under specific age groups.
Key Dates:
2024 season has not been announced yet.
For more info:
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