• Key Dates
• ProgComp Rules
• Main Round Info
• Grand Final Info
• Past Champions
• Prizes
• Teams
• Main Round Result
• Grand Final Result

Main Round Info

The competition is held in high schools on the second Friday in June. As far as possible the event is conducted 2pm-4pm AEST, though variations of up to 90 minutes in the start time may be requested.

Registering

Registrations and ProgComp itself are managed through the cupcake service.

Schools that have obtained access to cupcake for practice can register competition teams after they open. Competition teams are competely separate from practce teams:

• Practice teams are anonymous, and may be single students or shared among several students.
• Competition team members must be real students, identified by name, gender and school year.
• Practice tasks have generous time limits, feedback and hints, to encourage students to complete tasks wherever possible.
• Competition tasks are time-limited, summative assessments of the team's capabilities under pressure.

In addition,

• Teams of 3 are preferred wherever possible. Members can span school years, but the team level is determined by the most senior member.
• If there are insufficient particants there may be two teams of 2 (rather than a team of 3 and a single), or a single team of one if that's the only participant from a school.
• A student from a school with no teams at all may compete for another school with both schools' permission. Certificates only acknowledge the competing school.
• Team names are globally unique, so it may be necessary to include a school indicator to register a popular name.
• Membership can be changed up to the day before the competition. If a member is sick on the day, the team competes without them.

Starting the competition

Teams log on to cupcake, making sure they select Competition as the team type. It doesn't matter if they are a few minutes late, as the 120 minutes begins when they open the first task.

As each task is solved, the output corresponding to each supplied data file, and the source code for the program, must be pasted into the relevant text boxes on the task web page and submitted.

There is a small, undisclosed grace period when the 120 minutes are up, to allow for any delays when hundreds of teams are trying to make their final submission. Do not rely on this period to do any development or testing, it can evaporate without warning. No late submissions are accepted.

Internet connection

Students will need to be online throughout the competition to access the tasks and to submit their solutions and test results. There are five tasks plus two Junior tasks (see below). Teams may not use the internet during the competition apart from accessing the cupcake website and any sites linked directly from it.

It is expressly forbidden to use web searches to obtain information of any kind about the problems to be solved, and no generative AI tools of any kind may be used (see ProgComp Rules for more detail).

Teams can incorporate any software written beforehand by the members, or obtained from third parties provided the source is disclosed in the submitted code.

Task Levels

The ProgComp organisers recognise that only a small number of teams are in the running for the Grand Final, but everyone deserves a chance at competing, and completing at least a few tasks. Accordingly, there are (usually) two Junior-level tasks, and the open tasks are graded progressively more difficult.

All teams may attempt any of the tasks and will be scored, but Junior tasks cannot be counted towards selection for the Grand Final.

Competition Material

Competitors and supervisors should refrain from discussing the tasks with others until the conclusion of the competition. Under no circumstances may any of the materials be released to third parties without the written consent of the competition organisers.

Supervisor

The registered supervising teacher is responsible for ensuring and certifying that the competition is conducted and submitted under all of these rules.