FAQ

The contest is open to pupils enrolled in primary or secondary education during the first semester of the school year of the contest (so from September to December 2026 for beOI’27). Participants must either hold Belgian nationality or be enrolled in a school established in Belgium. Candidates must also be under 20 years old on 30 June of the year in which the contest takes place (for example for beOI’27, the participant must be born on 1 July 2007 or later). Organisers may ask for proof of age and of enrolment in the school.

The contest has four age categories. Each participant must register in the category that matches their year of study:

• Primary — primary school.
• Cadet — 1^st–2^nd year of secondary school.
• Junior — 3^rd–4^th year of secondary school.
• Senior — 5^th, 6^th and 7^th year of secondary school.

Participation in the contest itself is entirely free. For optional trainings we offer, a contribution toward lodging and meals may be requested to cover part of those costs.

Belgians living abroad or enrolled in a secondary school abroad may take part in the Belgian Olympiad.

If you are not Belgian but enrolled in a Belgian school, you may register for the Belgian Olympiad in Informatics. If you are not Belgian and not enrolled in a Belgian school, you cannot take part in our olympiad. Most countries run their own contest; many are listed on ioinformatics.org.

We handle this case by case. Remote qualification may be possible if we have a reliable contact point (school or university). Please contact us at info@be-oi.be in any case.

The brain teaser and the qualification round can be organised at your school if all of the following are met (rules may be adjusted slightly when registration opens):

• A computer room with one computer per participant and an Internet connection.
• Constant supervision for the full duration of the round.
• Contestants cannot compete both at home and at school.

No. Pupils are registered by the school. More details will follow.

More details will follow.

The brain teaser and the qualification round is held on computers, so it must take place in computer rooms with Internet access.

No — the contest is very lightweight and can practically run with an intermittent connection.

No — only a web browser is required.

You can run the round in several groups without any problem (explained on the coordinators’ platform).

More details will follow.

There is no hard limit — you can create them two minutes before the round if you wish, but it will be harder to help you if something goes wrong.

Contestants can take the qualification rounds either at school or from home.

You can sit the contest in your language in any Belgian centre. Supervisors at centres in the other language community may not always be able to answer you in your language. Questions during the round only cover practical details (time remaining, …), not the tasks themselves.

Yes, if a teacher is willing to host it and the school meets the conditions described under “For schools”. Otherwise, go to the nearest regional centre.

No — that would be treated as an attempt to cheat.

At the quarter-final and semi-final you may still use block programming (Blockly). We strongly recommend learning a text language as early as you can — Python is the easier path; C++ takes more time to learn but pays off later. Text languages let you write and adapt solutions much faster under contest pressure. Relying on Blockly alone at the semi-final is risky: we do not guarantee that it will be enough to qualify for the final.

At the final, only Python and C++ are accepted. Python may be used on the two easiest tasks of each session; the harder tasks require C++.