ACSL

Key facts

Eligible grades

K-12 schools, organisations and local groups, across five divisions: Senior for high school students with programming experience including AP Computer Science, Intermediate for high schoolers with little or no programming experience and advanced junior high students, Junior for junior high and middle school students, plus Classroom and Elementary divisions.

One hard rule: no student beyond grade 9 may compete in the Junior Division.

Source, checked 2026-09-02

Official divisions

Five divisions: Senior for students with programming experience including AP Computer Science, Intermediate for those with little or none, Junior for junior high and middle school, plus Classroom and Elementary. No student beyond grade 9 may enter the Junior Division.

Based on the organiser's own divisions.

Eligible ages

Not confirmed. This organiser may set eligibility by grade rather than age. We do not convert one into the other.

ACSL sets divisions by school level and experience, not age.

Individual or team

Individual or team · Teams are scored on either the top 5 or the top 3 scores in each contest. A 5-score team is limited to 10 students on its roster and a 3-score team to 6. A student may only be a member of a single team, and after Contest #1 a student cannot change teams.

Where it runs

Online · United States, International

Entry cost

Per team, per division. From ACSL's own registration page: the first team in a division is $175, or $125 for the Elementary Division; additional teams in a division are $150 each, or $100 each for Elementary. Separately, there is a $35 per student registration fee to take part in the Finals.A third-party guide quotes lower figures of $150 and $100 for first teams; ACSL's own page is higher, so budget from ACSL. The Finals fee is charged only if a student is invited, via a payment link in the invitation email.

Registration deadline

Set locally, not published as a single national date 2026-27 dates not yet published; registration opens 1 September 2026. For reference, the previous season's registration deadline was 31 December, with four contest windows running October through mid-May and Finals on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

Competition dates

Four contests spread between roughly December and March, plus an all-star finals in May.

Difficulty

Some preparation neededYou will want a few weeks of targeted practice. Most motivated students place respectably.

Prizes

Certificates, trophies and an all-star finals invitationIndividual awards at the Finals; no cash prize schedule found on the pages checked.