REGULATIONS
of the 10th International
Scratch Creative Programming Olympiad 2026
(last edited 04.02.2026)
1 General regulations, goals and objectives of the Scratch Olympiad
1.1 The International Scratch Creative Programming Olympiad (Scratch Olympiad) is held to support students' and teachers' initiatives in learning creative programming using the visual language Scratch and involving children and youth in innovative engineering projects.
Scratch is a free programming environment designed to engage children in creative learning experiences. The International Scratch Olympiad is not affiliated with Scratch or the Scratch Foundation.
1.2 The objectives of the Scratch Olympiad:
- the formation and development of a Scratch community in the world;
- drawing the attention of children, teachers, parents, and the educational community to creative programming;
- improving the algorithmic thinking of students and teachers;
- actualization of methods for the development of child and adolescent talent;
- improvement of professional skills of teachers.
1.3 The official language of the Scratch Olympiad is English.
2 Scratch Olympiad Organizers, Operators, Partners and Experts
2.1 General management of the organization and holding of the Scratch Olympiad is carried out by the Scratch Olympiad organizing committee - the Organizer of the Scratch Olympiad.
2.2 A Global Partner of the Scratch Olympiad is the organization, institution or individual that provides financial, technical, informational, methodological or organizational support for the Scratch Olympiad in general.
2.3 A National Operator of the Scratch Olympiad in the particular country is an exclusive organization, institution or individual of the particular country or their association, authorized by the Organizing committee of the Scratch Olympiad to carry out the general management of the national selection stage of the Scratch Olympiad 2026 in the particular country.
2.4 A National Partner of the Scratch Olympiad in the particular country is the organization, institution or individual that provides financial, technical, informational or organizational support for the Scratch Olympiad in the particular country.
2.5 An Expert of the Scratch Olympiad is a person authorized by the Organizing committee of the Scratch Olympiad to evaluate the projects of the participants of the Scratch Olympiad. Each Expert of the Scratch Olympiad undergoes annual training and certification holded by the Organizing committee of the Scratch Olympiad.
2.6 The Scratch Olympiad is held with technical, informational, methodological and organizational support from ROBBO company and other interested organizations, institutions and individuals.
3 Scratch Olympiad organizing committee
3.1 The Scratch Olympiad organizing committee includes delegates from organizations, institutions and individuals - partners of the Scratch Olympiad.
3.2 The Scratch Olympiad оrganizing committee approves the roadmap for the preparation and holding of the Scratch Olympiad.
3.3 The Scratch Olympiad organizing committee considers and approves the results of the Scratch Olympiad.
4 Dates, place and procedure of the Scratch Olympiad
4.1 The Scratch Olympiad is held in two stages: national selection stages and the final stage.
4.2 National selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad are held by the national operators of the selection stages in the host countries.
4.3 National selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad are held in distance, in-person or combined format at the discretion of the particular national selection stage operators.
4.4 National selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad may include regional rounds at the discretion of the particular national selection stage operators.
4.5 Rules and other documents of a particular national selection stage of the Scratch Olympiad are published on the webpage of the particular national selection stage on the official website of the Scratch Olympiad creativeprogramming.org.
4.6 The results of all national selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad are published on the official website of the Scratch Olympiad creativeprogramming.org.
4.7 Participation in the national selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad is individual.
4.8 The official languages of a particular national selection stage of the Scratch Olympiad may be English and/or the national languages of the host country.
4.9 The final stage of the Scratch Olympiad is held in-person, online, or in a combined format.
4.10 Rules and other documents of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad are published on the official website of the Scratch Olympiad creativeprogramming.org.
4.11 The authors of the best projects according to the results of the national selection stages are allowed to participate in the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad as part of the national team of their country in their age-corresponding nominations of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad.
4.12 The winners and awardees of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad 2025 are also allowed to participate in the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad 2026 without preliminary qualification tests.
4.13 Participation in the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad is individual.
4.14 Dates of the Scratch Olympiad:
National selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad: March - August 27, 2026.
Final stage of the Scratch Olympiad: September - October, 2026.
5 Scratch Olympiad participants
Schoolchildren from the age of 7 as well as students of pedagogical specialties and teachers can take part in the Scratch Olympiad. The age of the participants of the national selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad is considered to be the age that the participants have on August 27, 2026.
The age of the participants of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad is considered to be the age that the participants have on the day determined by the rules of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad.
6 Disciplines and Nominations of the Scratch Olympiad
6.1 The Scratch Olympiad is held in two disciplines:
- Scratch - creative programming on Scratch or RobboScratch;
- RobboScratch - creative programming on RobboScratch using ROBBO mobile robots and ROBBO digital labs.
6.2 The projects of the participants in the discipline "Scratch" can be done on Scratch or on RobboScratch.
6.3 The projects of the participants in the discipline "RobboScratch" should be done on RobboScratch.
6.4 Detailed information about Scratch is available on scratch.mit.edu.
6.5 Detailed information about RobboScratch is available on robbo.world/apps.
6.6 Detailed information on ROBBO mobile robots and ROBBO digital labs is available on robbo.world/products.
6.7 Within each discipline of the Scratch Olympiad participants are distributed into nominations according to their age.
6.8 Each nomination has its own task and its own definition of results.
6.9 Detailed conditions of the Scratch Olympiad nominations are determined by the rules of the national selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad and the rules of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad.
7 Competent professional jury
The evaluation of the projects of the Scratch Olympiad participants is entrusted to a professional and competent jury, which consists of Experts of the Scratch Olympiad.
8 Scratch Olympiad results and awarding ceremony
8.1 All participants of the national selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad who have applied for participation in the particular national selection stage in full accordance with the requirements of the rules of the particular national selection stage of the Scratch Olympiad, receive the electronic certificates of the participants of the particular national selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad.
8.2 The winners of the particular national selection stage of the Scratch Olympiad are determined separately in each nomination.
8.3 The winners and awardees of the particular national selection stage of the Scratch Olympiad receive the electronic diplomas of the particular national selection stage of the Scratch Olympiad.
8.4 All participants of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad receive the electronic certificates of the participants of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad.
8.5 The winners of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad are defined separately in each nomination.
8.6 The winners and awardees of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad receive the electronic diplomas of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad as well as memorable prizes from the organizers and partners of the Scratch Olympiad.
9 Terms of funding
9.1 The Scratch Olympiad is held at the expense of the organizers' own funds, registration fees of participants, partners' funds and other income.
9.2 Participation in the national selection stages of the Scratch Olympiad is free.
9.3 Participation in the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad comes with a registration fee. The amount and order of payment of the registration fee for participants of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad is set by the rules of the final stage of the Scratch Olympiad.
10 Contact information
E-mail: scratch@creativeprogramming.org
Facebook: @ScratchOlympiad
See you at the Scratch Olympiad 2026!