Computer science youth competition – Record number of participants

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More pupils have registered for this year's computer science youth competition (JwInf) than ever before. In addition, the proportion of girls this year is once again 39 percent. A total of 1384 schools are taking part. This was announced by the competition organizers this week following the conclusion of the first round of the competition.

At the start, 71,971 pupils took part, 17 percent more than last year. For the first time, it is now also possible for children and young people to compete in teams. In the first round, however, a team can only consist of a maximum of two people; later on, up to four people may collaborate. 26.8 percent of participants opted directly for the team option. According to the organizers, this option was very well received, especially among the younger age groups.

The competition is divided into three rounds. The second round takes place from May 5 to 18, the third from September 1 to November 17. The first round took place from March 17 to 30, 2025.

Training platform and participation

The Computer Science Youth Competition is a competition to get people started in programming. In terms of subject matter and organization, it is located between the Computer Science Beaver and the Computer Science Youth Competition. At the heart of the competition are "small, straightforward tasks that have to be solved using algorithms". This must be done within 60 minutes. Programming is done using graphical building blocks, which eliminates "frustrating errors in detail compared to traditional programming".

The offer has been particularly well received by teachers. Both the competition platform (jwinf.de), which provides exercises, and participation in the competition are increasingly being integrated into computer science lessons. This is particularly the case at lower secondary level.

However, one hurdle in everyday school life could be that the competition is not based on school years but on calendar years. Continuous supervision within a computer science class by the same teacher is then only possible if computer science continues to be on the timetable in the new school year and the class and teacher are assigned to each other again.

Competition platform can be used as a low-threshold learning platform

According to one teacher, the tasks on the competition platform are "practical and promote algorithmic thinking. Many of my pupils found programming fun for the first time through the competition". According to one pupil, the tasks on the competition platform have helped her to better understand familiar concepts and also to learn new ones. The number of users of the platform had risen sharply before the competition. At the beginning of April, 200,000 accounts are said to have been registered there.

The Computer Science Youth Competition is part of the nationwide computer science competitions (BWINF), which aim to spark interest in computer science and programming. Promoting talent is also part of the concept. The BWINF organizes a total of three student competitions: the Computer Science Beaver, the Computer Science Youth Competition and the National Computer Science Competition.

Promoting girls within the competition framework

As the Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. explained at the beginning of this year, the BWINF broke records in their entirety last year. More than 600,000 children and young people took part in the nationwide computer science competitions (BWINF) in 2024. The proportion of girls and young women also continued to rise. Almost half of the participants in the Computer Science Beaver were female –, namely 46.2 percent. In the 2024 Computer Science Youth Competition, the proportion was around 39.1%, and a new record was also set in the first round of the national competition. Around 32% of participants in the first computer science youth competition in 2017 were girls, and in 2022 it was around 35%.

According to BWINF Managing Director Dr. Wolfgang Pohl, the high and ever-increasing proportion of girls is the first effect of the girls@BWINF initiative launched in 2020.

Sponsors of the competitions

The nationwide computer science competitions are school competitions sponsored by the Conference of Education Ministers and are under the patronage of the Federal President. The competitions are supported by the Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., the Fraunhofer ICT Group, the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

(kbe)