A course teaches your child to build. A competition gives them a reason to finish. There is a date on the calendar, someone outside the family who will look at the work, and a result that exists whether or not the project went perfectly. For a lot of children that changes how seriously they take the thing they are making.
Below is what is actually open to a school-age child in Vietnam, sorted by age, with who runs each one. Everything here was checked against the organisers' own pages in September 2026 — but brackets and dates move every year, so always confirm on the official site before you plan around it.
Start here at any age: the Bebras Challenge
The Bebras Challenge is the easiest place to start and costs nothing. It runs every November in 96 countries, and as of 2026 more than 2.5 million students take part, which makes it the largest computer science competition in the world. Children get 45 minutes to work through as many puzzle-style tasks as they can, split into six age categories from 6 to 18. There is no programming and nothing to revise — the tasks test the thinking behind computing rather than any language. Nobody is expected to finish them all.
It is the gentlest possible introduction to competing: 45 minutes, no preparation, no prior coding. If your child has never entered anything before, this is the one to try first. Registration details for each November are announced from September at bebraschallenge.org.
Vietnam's national contest: Hội thi Tin học trẻ
This is the big one, and it is government-run — organised by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union together with national partners. 2026 is the 32nd edition. What makes it unusually good for younger children is that it does not only test programming: half the brackets ask for a finished product.
Entrants are school students from primary through upper secondary, or Vietnamese citizens of equivalent age. The brackets are:
Programming brackets
- Bảng A — primary school, individual
- Bảng B — lower secondary (THCS), individual
- Bảng C1 — upper secondary, specialised classes, teams of up to 2
- Bảng C2 — upper secondary, non-specialised, individual
Creative product brackets
- Bảng D1 — primary school, on a set theme, teams of up to 2, a teacher may guide
- Bảng D2 — lower secondary, teams of up to 2, a teacher may guide
- Bảng D3 — upper secondary
The D brackets are the ones most of our students are ready for first. A game, an app, or a tool that solves a real problem is exactly what they are asking for, and a child who has built a project in class already has most of an entry. Details and registration are at tinhoctre.vn.
The Olympiad route, ages 15 to 18
For students who take to competitive programming, the serious path in Vietnam runs through the national excellent-student examination in Informatics, which is how the country selects and trains its team for the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). It is demanding, it is algorithm-heavy, and it rewards years of practice rather than a term of it. Treat it as a destination, not a starting point.
What to enter, by age
| Age | Start with | Then aim for |
|---|---|---|
| 6–10 | Bebras Challenge | Tin học trẻ, Bảng A or D1 |
| 11–14 | Bebras Challenge | Tin học trẻ, Bảng B or D2 |
| 15–18 | Tin học trẻ, Bảng C1/C2/D3 | National Informatics exam → IOI |
How to actually prepare
- Enter something small first. The point of a first competition is learning what a deadline feels like, not winning it.
- Pick the product bracket over the programming bracket if your child likes building more than solving puzzles. Both count.
- Start the project six weeks out, not one. Every entry needs a working demo, and demos break.
- Keep everything. Screenshots, a short video, the code. A finished entry is also a portfolio piece, a school application exhibit, and next year's starting point.
- Ask the school. Many rounds are registered through schools rather than by parents directly.
Where we fit in
Our students spend every course building something they can show — a game, an app, a website. That is the same shape as a competition entry, which is why the step from one to the other is short. If your child is thinking about entering this year and you would like help choosing a bracket or shaping a project, that is a good thing to bring to a trial lesson.
Last checked September 2026. Competition brackets, eligibility and dates are set by the organisers and change every year — always confirm on the official site before entering.