Build a machine, train a model, film a sixty second idea, design a solution, sit a coding sprint or pitch a product. From $25, with a free junior bracket so no child is priced out.
Open to students worldwide · Free junior bracket · $10,000 prize pool · Judged on a published rubric
Quick answer
The NASCA STEM and AI Challenge 2026 is six online contests running through November 2026: Build It, Train It, Solve It, Design It, Code It and Pitch It. Entry is $25 for one student in one challenge, $40 for any three, $50 for a team of up to three, $100 for a school pack of ten entries and $250 for a whole campus. The junior bracket of Solve It is free. There is a $10,000 prize pool in kit and awards, and every valid entry earns a verifiable certificate.
Three steps
Six challenges, junior to senior brackets, so a Grade 3 never competes against a Grade 11.
Two minutes. You get an entry code straight away, plus the rubric you will be marked against.
Upload through the portal, edit as often as you like until the deadline closes.
Open now
Make the thing work
Robotics, electronics, a sensor rig, a machine that solves one small problem. We mark the build log as seriously as the machine, because the thinking is the point.
Teach a model, then be honest about it
Collect your own data, train a model on it, then write plainly about what it gets wrong and who it might fail. The honest limits note carries real marks.
Sixty seconds. One real problem.
No budget, no film crew, no polish. A phone camera and an idea. This is the entry every child in the world can make, so the junior bracket is free.
Research first, prototype second
Show us the people you actually spoke to, the idea you dropped and why you dropped it. Empathy, definition, ideation, prototype, test.
A timed logic sprint
Block based for the younger bracket, Python for the senior one. Sit it from home on any date in the window. Scored the moment you finish.
Sell the idea in three minutes
An AI product that could exist: who needs it, what it costs, why it is not a toy. Judged by people who have actually built companies.
Entry fees
Fees pay the judges, the certificates and the prize kit. Every student who wants a place can have one, and we waive the fee on request.
One entry, Grades 1 to 5, Solve It only
One student, one challenge
One student, any three challenges
Up to three students, one challenge
Up to ten entries across any challenges
Whole campus, unlimited entries
The prize wall
Six winners. Robotics or AI hardware of their choice, plus their work published.
Twelve runners up across the six challenges.
The school with the strongest aggregate score across all entries.
Verifiable online, plus the six parameter feedback that outlives the result.
Why this is worth the entry
Every valid entry earns a certificate with a public verification page a school can check.
You get your six parameter score sheet back, so the feedback outlives the result.
Submissions run through this site. A village school competes on the same terms as a city one.
Prizes are hardware, robotics kits and lab grants that stay in the school.
How entries are judged
Nothing is a mystery. The rubric is published, and every entrant gets their score against it.
Do you understand the idea underneath the build, not only the steps you followed.
Does the work solve a real problem for a real person you can name.
Is the design sound, documented and repeatable by someone else.
How far did the work travel from first sketch to final submission.
The logic, the data handling and the reasoning behind the choices.
Can you explain it clearly and answer a hard question about it.
Two minutes
Already entered? Go to the submission portal.
Questions
Twenty five US dollars for one student in one challenge, forty for any three, fifty for a team of up to three, one hundred for a school pack of ten entries and two hundred and fifty for a whole campus. The junior bracket of Solve It is free for everyone.
Yes. Every challenge runs online through this website. Nobody travels, and a student in a village school competes on exactly the same terms as a student in a city.
Students from Grade 1 to Grade 12 depending on the challenge, plus higher education and open entrants in Design It. Solo or in a team of up to three.
A share of the ten thousand dollar pool in hardware, kits and awards, a World STEM Federation endorsed certificate, and their work published on our site. Every valid entry gets a participation certificate.
Yes. Write to us with one line about the student and the school and the fee is waived. Every genuine request gets a yes, and the names stay private.
On the same six parameters we use in class: concept, application, structure, development, programming and analytical skills, and presentation. The rubric is published in full so nothing is a mystery.
Yes, and say so. Declare what you used and what you changed. Undeclared AI generated work is disqualified; declared and well used AI is fine, and often scores well on application.
Full refund on request up to seven days before the closing date, no questions asked. After that the entry has already been allocated to a judge.
Register a student, a team or the whole campus. It takes two minutes and the rubric arrives with the confirmation.
