The International Collegiate Programming Contest is seeking original programming problems for the 2026 ICPC Finals contest. The location and exact date are still unannounced, but the ICPC Finals are anticipated to take place in the fourth quarter of 2026.

All problems must be submitted by Saturday, January 31, 2026.

A problem submission must include at least:

• a problem statement that includes at least one illustrative test case and its corresponding output
• a brief description of the algorithm used in the solution along with an estimate of the difficulty of the problem
• a solution in C++, Java, Python, or Kotlin

Additional materials such as test data and test input validators are welcome. There's also a “Guide for Judges and Problem Contributors” provides further information about what a problem candidate should look like, reach out to me if interested in getting it (I have no idea how to attach a PDF to a CodeForces blogpost, if it's at all possible).

Please note that problems should generally not have been discussed or shown to other people. In the exceptional case when a problem is known to others than the submitter, this needs to be clearly stated in the submission (including the names and roles of those who have seen the problem).

Problems must be sent encrypted using the public key at the end and sent to [email protected]. If you are unable to use PGP, or if you have any questions about problem candidates, please contact us through that address.

You must submit at least two problems for them to be considered. If you have not been an ICPC Finals judge before, attach your public PGP key and a short description of your competitive programming experience to your submission. Active ICPC contestants and coaches are ineligible to submit problems to the ICPC Finals contest.

You will receive a confirmation email for your submission. If you do not get one within a week, contact us. All submissions will be evaluated by the Selection Committee by the end of April 2026, so you will receive information about whether your problem was selected in May 2026.

If your problem is selected, you will be asked to be a judge for the 2026 Finals contest, which in particular means taking responsibility for the preparation of one of the other problems (not the one you authored), as well as participating in the preparation of the overall set. You will also be eligible to attend the World Finals. If you want to submit any of your rejected problems to a different contest (ICPC or non-ICPC), please ensure it’s a contest in which none of the Selection Committee members will participate (contact us if in doubt). The Selection Committee members are Jo Perry, John Bonomo, Derek Kisman, Gennady Korotkevich, Martin Kacer, Onufry Wojtaszczyk, Per Austrin, and Yujie An.

Thank you! ICPC Finals Selection Committee [email protected]

PS: Please forward this message to anyone who is interested.

PPS: The PGP key:

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