8 Hackathons for Middle School Students
If you’re a middle schooler interested in gaining competitive experience in coding, consider a hackathon!
Hackathons provide a solid opportunity for middle school students to dive into the world of coding, creativity, and problem-solving. These events are more than just coding marathons; they are platforms where young minds can collaborate, innovate, and bring their ideas to life. Participating in a hackathon can help students develop essential skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, and technical proficiency, all while having fun and making new friends.
These hackathons cater to various interests and skill levels, offering a range of challenges from game development and app creation to robotics and sustainability projects. Whether you are a beginner eager to learn the basics of coding or an experienced young coder looking to tackle complex problems, there is a hackathon for you. Let's dive in and discover these exciting opportunities for young innovators!
In this blog post, we will explore eight fantastic hackathons specifically designed for middle school students.
Application Deadline: Registration stays open until the opening ceremony of the program
Eligibility: All middle and high school students (international students can apply as well)
Dates: July 19 – 21, 2024
Cost: Free
Awards: $21,475 in prizes
Coding Experience Required: Students above the age of 13
Students unable to attend in-person programs might consider participating in fully virtual hackathons like STEMist Hacks 2.0. This student-run hackathon offers significant flexibility, allowing participants to work individually or in teams and choose any project theme.
This freedom means you can work on various coding projects, whether creating a physical product or developing a software application. Projects are judged on technical skill, creativity, and problem-solving effectiveness. The 2023 edition saw over 140 participants from more than 20 countries!
Do note that this hackathon is not targeted towards middle school students, but are instead open to all students above the age of 13!
Application Deadline: Applications open in December
Eligibility: Middle school students from ODE’s partner school for the year. The 2025 partner school is Lowe’s Grove
Dates: March 28, 2025
Location: Duke University
Cost: Free
Awards: Not specified
Coding Experience Required: Beginner
Hosted by the Outreach Design Education Program, this hackathon centers on engineering design. Participants team up with their teachers to use rapid prototyping tools like 3-D printing, laser cutting, and Arduino programming to design and build devices, typically guided by a specific theme.
For instance, the 2023 cohort focused on creating innovative garden care devices, such as overhead sprinklers and soil moisture maintenance systems. This program provides an introductory experience in engineering design while offering the opportunity to work in Duke’s Engineering Design Pod.
3. QuHacks 2025
Application Deadline: TBA
Eligibility: Current middle school and high school students
Dates: December 14, 2024Location: John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Cost: Free
Awards: Monetary awards and other merch like gaming monitors, tablets, headphones, and drones!
Coding experience required: All levels (beginners can attend workshops and apply to the novice division of the program)
QuHacks is a student-organized day-long hackathon held at Johns Hopkins University, catering to participants of all skill levels within both novice and main divisions. You can create projects such as apps, games, websites, or robots, working solo or in teams of up to four. The hackathon includes sessions covering Python, web development, OSINT (open source intelligence), and a monkeytype competition.
Application Deadline: TBA
Eligibility: Grades 7-12
Dates: TBA, typically January or February
Location: The University of Texas, Dallas
Cost: TBA
Awards: Monetary prizes up to $750
Coding Experience Required: Intermediate
Organized by UT-Dallas’ ITS Academy, Hack IT is a day-long hackathon designed for middle and high school students. Participants work in teams to create projects using technological tools based on a specific theme. For example, in 2020, teams learned to program the game “Whack-A-Mole” and then developed variations or entirely new games.
In 2018, students used Arduino boards to design home protection devices/apps utilizing the Internet of Things. Projects are judged on technical feasibility, design, mechanics, and team presentation. Future hackathons will follow similar themes and structures.
Application Deadline: April 12, 2024
Eligibility: Students aged 7- 18
Dates: April 13-14, 2024. 2025 edition will likely be held in April
Location: Online
Cost: Free
Awards: Prizes include earbuds and backpacks, free coding courses, subscriptions, and internship opportunities
Coding Experience Required: Beginner
This international virtual hackathon, organized by AiGoLearning and the Sunshine Foundation, invites students to work individually or in teams of two to create tech projects based on a specific theme. The 2024 theme was “Coding into the Future with AI.”
The hackathon features two categories: the junior category for students up to grade 7 and the senior category for students from grade 8 to 12. For those new to coding, the program offers free workshops covering the basics of coding languages like Python, Java, and Roblox. You can explore some of the past winning projects here.
Application Deadline: Typically early January
Eligibility: Anyone can participate (including international students and professionals)
Dates: Typicallt late January. 2025 dates TBD
Location: Yale University
Cost: Free
Awards: $5,000 for the winning team. Additional cash prizes available
Coding Experience Required: Advanced
Since 2014, Yale’s Center for Biomedical Innovation & Technology (CBIT) has hosted this three-day hackathon, bringing together students and professionals to develop innovative solutions for specific healthcare industry challenges. The 2023 theme focused on patient engagement, with Indira Negi, deputy director of global health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as the keynote speaker. The 2024 theme focused on digital solutions to accessing care, physical wellness, nutrition, and mental health.
The event ends with a final presentation pitch, with your team presenting a 3-minute pitch of your proposed solution to the problem. This hackathon offers several networking opportunities, allowing participants to learn from a diverse group of individuals across various fields.
Despite its advanced nature, where participants collaborate with clinicians, engineers, and business experts, students as young as 12-13 have participated.
Application deadline: Registration opens in mid-July and stays open until the end of the hackathon
Eligibility: Open to all. If you’re under 18, your legal guardian must register for you and accompany you throughout the event
Dates: October 5- 6, 2024
Location: In-person (multiple locations) and virtual
Cost: Free
Awards: There are 10 Space Apps Global Awards and winners visit to a NASA center/facility
Coding Experience Required: All levels
The NASA Space Apps Challenge is one of the largest global hackathons for students passionate about space exploration. You can participate in either a local or global event. After registering, you will need to join or create a team of 4-5 members and select one of the provided challenge statements. Some of the 2024 challenges include Chronicles of Exoplanet Exploration, Community Mapping, Gender and Climate, and Imagine Our Connected Earth.
Using open-source data from NASA and its space agency partners, your team will work on a solution-based project tailored to the chosen challenge. All participants receive a certificate, and the winning team will even get to visit a NASA facility in the U.S.!
Application Deadline: Typically end-March
Eligibility: All girls aged 10-25 (international applicants allowed)
Dates: April 7, 2024 (2025 dates TBD)
Location: Online
Cost: Free
Awards: Up to $1,000
Coding Experience Required: Beginner
Targeted toward girls and young women, the Design Challenge Hackathon is hosted by the non-profit organization Girls Who Start and sponsored by J.P. Morgan and University Startups. Here, you will work in teams of 3-5 to brainstorm, prototype, and pitch a product idea. In total, 20 teams participate. Each team’s project must align with the hackathon’s theme.
The 2024 and 2023 themes were “Innovate, Elevate, and Advocate” and ”Emovation” respectively. The 2023 winning team developed a social networking platform that connects parents with childcare workers. This hackathon is ideal for students interested in design and social benefit.
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, and chemistry, consider applying to Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs! This is a selective virtual research program that lets you engage in advanced research and develop a research paper on a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1000+ high school students so far and offers 600+ research specializations for you to choose from.
You can find the application link here
One more option - The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program
The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is a program for middle school students to work one-on-one with a mentor to explore their academic interests and build a project they are passionate about. Our mentors are scholars from top research universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Duke, and LSE.
The program was founded by a Harvard & Oxford PhD who met as undergraduates at Harvard. The program is rigorous and fully virtual. We offer need-based financial aid for students who qualify. You can find the application in the brochure!
To learn more, you can reach out to our Head of Partnerships, Maya, at maya.novak-herzog@lumiere.education or go to our website.
Multiple rolling deadlines for JEP cohorts across the year, you can apply using this application link! If you'd like to take a look at the cohorts + deadlines for 2024, you can refer to this page!
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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