The Comprehensive guide to Student Contests for STEM
The Congressional App Challenge is the most prestigious prize in student computer science.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives hosting district-wide Congressional App Challenges for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science.
INTEL SCIENCE FAIR - ISEF
Every year, tens of millions of students participate in science fairs around the globe but only about 1,800 earn the right to compete for nearly $5 million awards bestowed each May at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Intel Science Fair is the worlds largest Science Competition and is open for High school students.
Students ages 13-18 can participate in this amazing science fair. Students create a hypothesis, perform an experiment, and then present the results.
SAMSUNG Solve for Tomorrow
Designed to boost interest and proficiency in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM), this nationwide contest challenges public school teachers and students in grades 6–12 to show how STEAM can be applied to help improve their local community.
Each National Winner school receives a $100K prize package including Samsung technology and classroom resources. Plus, all teams get to attend the Final Event in Washington DC to meet with congressional leaders.
Carnegie Mellon University's - picoCTF Cyber security competition
picoCTF is a computer security game for middle and high school students. The game consists of a series of challenges centered around a unique storyline where participants must reverse engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do whatever it takes to solve the challenge. The challenges are all set up with the intent of being hacked, making it an excellent, legal way to get hands-on experience.
Prizes from $1,000 to $6,000
THINK is a science,research, and innovation competition for high school students.
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 and are looking for additional guidance in the early stages of their project. The program is organized by a group of undergraduates at MIT.
Every year, students build inspiring tech projects that tackle some of the world’s biggest social, environmental, and health challenges.
To compete you must be at least 16 years of age, and currently enrolled at an accredited high school or college. Grand prize is $100,000.
FIRST robotics is a non profit organization. first is an acronym for For the Inspiration of Science & Technology. FIRST competitions have different levels and cater to kids age 6 through High school.
Jr. Lego League - Kids Ages 6-9
FIRST Lego League- Kids 9-14
FIRST Tech Challenge- Middle & High School students
FIRST Robotics Competition - High school students.
VEX Competitions bring STEM skills to life by tasking teams of students with designing and building a robot to play against other teams in a game-based engineering challenge.
Vex IQ - Elementary, Middle School Students
Vex Robotics competition- For Middle, High, College Students.
A middle and high school robotics competition whose mission is to engage and excite students about engineering, science, and technology as well as inspire them to pursue careers in these fields.
Zero Robotics is a robotics programming competition where the robots are SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) inside the International Space Station. The competition starts online, on this website, where teams program the SPHERES to solve an annual challenge. After several phases of virtual competition in a simulation environment that mimics the real SPHERES, finalists are selected to compete in a live championship aboard the ISS. An astronaut will conduct the championship competition in microgravity with a live broadcast!
The competition is provided through a partnership with various organizations including MIT and NASA.
Middle and high school students can participate.
Change the Game is an initiative from Google Play to support and empower women as game players and creators. By conducting ongoing research, inspiring youth engagement, partnering with forward-thinking organizations and spotlighting stories of success, we seek to improve representation in the mobile gaming world and create meaningful change in the industry.
Winners will have their game ideas built and launched on Google Play, receive scholarship money and more.
The Coca-Cola Scholars Program scholarship is an achievement-based scholarship awarded to graduating high school seniors. Students are recognized for their capacity to lead and serve, as well as their commitment to making a significant impact on their schools and communities.
This is open for High school seniors only.
Kids ages 13–18 can submit a big scientific idea in fundamental physics, life sciences or mathematics in video form. Prizes upto $250,000
Your high school students can win up to $35,000 in scholarships and prizing for their smart ideas on topics like sustainability, food insecurity, the impact of technology and more.
Future City is a project-based learning program where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future. (This is a team competition)
Students can win FROM 5,000- 50,000 for their schools, while they participate in recycling their plastic bottles and aluminum cans. ( School wide competition)
The annual 3M Young Scientist Challenge invites students in grades 5-8 to submit a 1-2 minute video describing a unique solution to an everyday problem for the chance to win $25,000 and an exclusive 3M Mentor ship. Ten finalists will be chosen for their passion for science, spirit of innovation and ingenuity, and effective communication skills.
#BUILTBYGIRLS invites girls to submit a new product concept, design and/or working prototype for the chance to win $10,000. Finalists will get the trip of a lifetime to San Francisco to pitch in front of expert girl judges, tech moguls and industry experts.
The Invention Convention program is a project-based learning curriculum to help students learn to think critically by identifying problems in their world.
The Games for Change Prize is open to any playable game submission that tackles a social issue, whether through game play or subject matter. Each winner of the Games for Change Prize will receive a cash prize of $1,000, as well as exposure on the STEM Challenge and G4C websites, mentoring from game industry professionals, and access to an online community of peers.
The American Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest rocket contest with nearly 5,000 students nationwide competing each year. The contest gives middle and high school students the opportunity to design, build and launch model rockets and hands-on experience solving engineering problems. Open for students grade 7-12
An event where students of all ages compete with machines that they have imagined, designed and created in a fun and competitive forum. The competitions encourage teamwork and out-of-the-box problem solving, in a fresh learning environment and level playing field. All you need is a good Imagination and a pile of junk!
The competition has in- person and online formats.
Future Engineers hosts online innovation challenges for K-12 students. Sponsored by the ASME Foundation with technical assistance from NASA.
CRCC is a groundbreaking online robotics competition that engages students in coding. Schools can compete and involve students through gaming and competition in STEM, coding and tech literacy.
The annual International SeaPerch Challenge is an invitation-only event that includes teams who excel at regional competitions and earn a slot to compete at this event. A key goal of SeaPerch is to provide meaningful opportunities for students to learn and enhance their knowledge and skills related to robotics and the engineering design process. Open for Middle & High School students.
