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Competitions & Hackathons Opportunities for Students

Real competitions & hackathons opportunities for students — verified, not scraped junk. 42 real opportunities right now.

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AICC Student Packaging Design Competition

Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC)

A US packaging design competition with structural and graphic design categories, including an all-expenses-paid industry trip for winners.

📍 United StatesPaidMedium
#competition#packaging-design#team
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Starpack Students Competition

Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3)

A UK-based real-world metal packaging design challenge for design students, with a sponsored brief specific to metal packaging.

📍 United KingdomPaidMedium
#competition#packaging-design#student
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LAMP International Lighting Design Competition

LAMP

An independent juried competition championing emerging lighting designers across professional, student, and manufactured-product categories.

📍 Vancouver, Canada (international entries)PaidMedium
#competition#lighting-design#student
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ANU Science Case Study Competition

Australian National University

A case-study competition for undergraduate teams analyzing a real scientific or policy problem (such as critical minerals or mental health), judged on rigor and communication.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#case-study#science
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Reply Cyber Security Challenge

Reply

A 24-hour team cybersecurity competition spanning categories like cryptography, web security, and reverse engineering, judged on a capture-the-flag scoring system.

📍 Global (online)PaidHard
#hackathon#cybersecurity#team
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EY Techathon

Ernst & Young (EY) India

A student hackathon challenging teams to apply emerging technology like AI and automation to real business and community problems across several themed tracks.

📍 IndiaPaidMedium
#hackathon#india#team
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IFC Impact Investing Challenge

International Finance Corporation

A team-based challenge for graduate students to develop investment strategies addressing climate, gender equity, or financial inclusion, culminating in a pitch to IFC leadership.

📍 Global (online); finals presentationUnpaidHard
#competition#finance#impact-investing
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UNIDIR Global Disarmament Essay Competition

UN Institute for Disarmament Research

An essay competition inviting young people to write on disarmament, arms control, and international security, with a funded trip to Geneva for the winner.

📍 Global (online); winner trip to GenevaPaidMedium
#competition#essay#disarmament
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Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge

Kellogg School of Management / Morgan Stanley

A graduate student pitch competition for innovative financial solutions to social and environmental problems, with a New York or London final pitch event.

📍 Global (online); final in New York or LondonPaidHard
#competition#finance#sustainability
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Stanford Center on Longevity Design Challenge

Stanford Center on Longevity

A design competition for student teams proposing products or services that improve healthy aging and human longevity, judged in a final pitch round.

📍 Global (online); finals at Stanford, USAPaidHard
#competition#design#healthcare
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Global Canvas Children's Art Competition

Global Canvas

A children's art competition spanning painting, sculpture, textile, and collage on an annual theme, with cash or supply-voucher prizes for winners.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidEasy
#competition#art#children
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Toyota Logistic Design Competition

Toyota

A design competition inviting student teams to propose 2D or 3D circular-economy object designs addressing transportation and material-use challenges.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#design#sustainability
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HG Wells Short Story Competition

H.G. Wells Society / literary festival

An annual themed short-story competition for young writers under 21, with a notable cash grand prize and publication opportunity.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#writing#fiction
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World History Association Student Essay Contest

World History Association

An essay contest inviting secondary students to reflect on the value of studying world history, with a cash prize for the top entry.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidEasy
#competition#essay#history
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American Society of Human Genetics DNA Day Essay Contest

American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)

An essay contest for high schoolers on a genetics-related prompt tied to National DNA Day, judged by genetics professionals with cash prizes for top entries.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#essay#genetics
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Jane Austen Society of North America Essay Contest

Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA)

A literary-analysis essay contest on Jane Austen's novels across three academic levels (high school, college, graduate), with cash prizes for each category.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#essay#literature
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Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition

University of Cambridge (Hughes Hall)

An essay competition spanning moral, political, scientific, and philosophical prompts for secondary school students, with a substantial combined cash prize pool.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#essay#cambridge
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Woolf Essay Prize

Newnham College, University of Cambridge

An essay prize for female secondary school students responding to an annually set prompt, named for Virginia Woolf, with book-token prizes for top entries.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#essay#women
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Oxford Practical Ethics Competition

University of Oxford (Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics)

A team video-submission competition for secondary students on a contemporary ethics question, culminating in a live debate day hosted by Oxford's Practical Ethics team.

📍 Global (online submission)UnpaidMedium
#competition#ethics#philosophy
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St Hugh's College Sixth Form Essay Competitions

University of Oxford (St Hugh's College)

A set of multi-subject essay competitions for secondary school students on Oxford-style set questions, offering cash prizes and academic feedback.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#essay#oxford
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Trinity College Cambridge Essay Prizes

Trinity College, University of Cambridge

A series of subject essay prizes (law, history, literature, linguistics) for secondary school students, judged by Trinity College fellows, with the prize split between student and school.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#essay#cambridge
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Fitzwilliam College Essay Competitions

Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge

A set of subject-specific essay competitions (across humanities and social sciences) for pre-university students, with cash prizes and feedback from Cambridge academics.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#essay#cambridge
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Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award

The Poetry Society (UK)

One of the world's largest poetry competitions for young writers, open on any theme, with roughly 100 winners receiving prizes, mentoring, and publication in an anthology.

📍 Global (online submission)UnpaidEasy
#competition#poetry#writing
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The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition

Royal Commonwealth Society

The world's oldest international schools' writing competition, inviting essays on Commonwealth-related themes across junior and senior age categories, with winners honored at a London ceremony.

📍 Global (online); ceremony in LondonPaidMedium
#competition#essay#commonwealth
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Ayn Rand Institute Essay Contests (Anthem, Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged)

Ayn Rand Institute

A set of annual essay contests open to students on Ayn Rand's novels Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged, each with a tiered cash prize pool and separate age brackets.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#essay#literature
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UNESCO Clubs Worldwide Multimedia Contest

UNESCO Clubs

A multimedia (video, essay, or art) competition inviting youth to propose ways their community can advance a specific UN Sustainable Development Goal, with a US-based youth camp invitation for top entries.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidEasy
#competition#sdgs#multimedia
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Smart India Hackathon

Government of India (Ministry of Education)

India's largest national hackathon, where student teams build working solutions to real problem statements submitted by government ministries and industry partners over a 36-hour build.

📍 IndiaPaidHard
#hackathon#india#team
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Harvard International Review Writing Contest

Harvard International Review

A short-form (roughly 800-1200 word) writing contest for high schoolers on international-affairs topics, with finalists invited to a virtual defense of their argument.

📍 Global (online submission)UnpaidMedium
#competition#writing#international-affairs
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The New York Times Learning Network Student Contests

The New York Times

An ongoing series of free writing, video, and multimedia contests for teenagers — including personal narrative, editorial, review, podcast, and STEM-explainer formats — with winning entries published by the Times.

📍 Global (online submission)UnpaidEasy
#competition#writing#journalism
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Microsoft Imagine Cup

Microsoft

A global student technology competition where teams build a working product using Microsoft's cloud and AI tools, with mentorship and a path to Microsoft's startup programs.

📍 Global (online, world finals in-person)PaidHard
#competition#technology#startup
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Samsung Solve for Tomorrow

Samsung

A competition challenging students to design a product, app, or service idea that solves a real-world community problem, with incubation support for finalist teams.

📍 Multiple countriesPaidMedium
#competition#innovation#product-design
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IBM Master the Mainframe Challenge

IBM

A three-level self-paced learning competition teaching mainframe computing fundamentals, with travel stipends and scholarships awarded to top performers.

📍 Global (online)PaidMedium
#competition#mainframe#coding
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International Online Physics Competition (Physics Brawl)

Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Czech Republic

A team-based online physics problem-solving competition run over several hours, testing both depth of physics knowledge and teamwork under time pressure.

📍 Global (online)UnpaidHard
#competition#physics#team
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International Youth Math Challenge (IYMC)

International Youth Math Challenge

A multi-round online mathematics competition open to school and college students worldwide, progressing from qualifiers through pre-finals to a final round.

📍 Global (online)PaidMedium
#competition#mathematics#online
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Google Kick Start Coding Competition

Google

A global online algorithmic programming competition run in timed rounds, open to coders of all levels and used by Google as a talent pipeline for interviews.

📍 Global (online)UnpaidMedium
#competition#coding#algorithms
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The Geneva Challenge

Geneva Graduate Institute

An annual team competition inviting graduate students worldwide to propose pragmatic, evidence-based solutions to a pressing global development problem, judged by an expert panel in Geneva.

📍 Geneva, SwitzerlandPaidHard
#competition#policy#graduate
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CERN Beamline for Schools Competition

CERN

An international competition where teams of high schoolers design a real particle-physics experiment, with winning teams traveling to run their experiment on an actual CERN beamline.

📍 Geneva, Switzerland (winning trip)PaidHard
#competition#physics#team
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Solar Decathlon Design Challenge

U.S. Department of Energy

A collegiate competition where student teams design high-performance, energy-efficient buildings, judged across categories from architecture to market potential.

📍 United StatesUnpaidHard
#competition#architecture#sustainability
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Conrad Challenge

Conrad Foundation

A team-based STEM innovation challenge that takes student ventures from concept through a business pitch, culminating in an in-person Innovation Summit.

📍 Global (online submission)UnpaidMedium
#competition#stem#team
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James Dyson Award

James Dyson Foundation

An international student design-engineering award recognizing inventions that solve real problems, judged first nationally and then by James Dyson himself at the international stage.

📍 Global (submission by country)PaidMedium
#competition#design#engineering
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The Earth Prize

The Earth Prize Foundation

A global environmental innovation competition for teenage teams to design solutions to real sustainability problems, with a large combined prize pool for students, mentors, and schools.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#sustainability#team
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Breakthrough Junior Challenge

Breakthrough Prize Foundation

A global video competition inviting teens to explain a challenging concept in life sciences, physics, or mathematics in an engaging short film, with a major scholarship as the top prize.

📍 Global (online submission)PaidMedium
#competition#science-communication#scholarship
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