SJSU Computer Engineering

SJSU Local Contest 2026

we are pleased to invite you to participate in the 2026 SJSU local programming contest. it will be taking place in ENG 337 on april 18th, 2026 from 2PM until 5PM.

the contest is open to all SJSU undergraduate students and admitted students. SJSU faculty, both full and part-time, are also invited to form teams.

if this is your first time participating in competitive programming or using kattis, one skill you need to develop is parsing the input. in java, the Scanner class is your friend! (unless there is a lot of input, then you will need something more efficient.) an easy problem to try out is https://open.kattis.com/problems/isithalloween

team requirements

we follow roughly the ICPC style competition. contestants work in teams of 3. we run the contest on kattis, so please practice submitting problems on open.kattis.com before the competition. during the competition you may printed material as reference. you cannot look at any outside sources or aids. you can use printed material, but no electronics. it is just you and your teammates solving the problems.

the ICPC competition is for students early in their academic careers (first 4 or 5 years). You must have started your post high school education after 2021 or born after 2002 to be eligible to particpate.

YOU MUST BE REGISTERED BY NOON APRIL 18th. each team member must register using https://forms.gle/bwzvsUPf3zc6FAqC7

contest rules

  1. teams must have 3 eligible members.
  2. teams cannot use resources including people, google, other websites, etc except for printed material (books/notes) they bring with them.
  3. kattis will judge the solutions. the kattis results are final.
  4. winning teams must be able to explain a solution chosen by the contest coordinator/audience in order to qualify as a winner.
  5. the full team must be present at the start of the competition to review the rules and and the end of the competition to accept results.

computer

ONE MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM MUST HAVE LAPTOP THAT CAN BOOT FROM USB. we will be using a contest imagine that will run on your own laptop. we will have a usb keyfob to use, but you must be using an Intel/AMD laptop. (You can check one out from the library if needed.)

contest schedule

your team must be registered and have their computer setup by 2PM. the contest will last 3 hours and the winners will be announced at 5PM. the winning team will need to explain one solution as chosen by the audience.

prizes

there will be cash prizes for the 1st place team ($120 to split), the next highest SJSU team ($90 to split), and the next highest team with an admitted spartan or 1st year student ($60).