The assessment process and timeline for the 2026 cycle are given below:
September 16 – September 30: Material review and preliminary qualification screening.
October 1 – November 2: Regional evaluations and divisional oral presentations to select candidate teams advancing to the Global Final.
November 3 – November 10: Online public announcement of Global Finalists and research reports.
December 5 – December 6: Global Final and Awards Ceremony at Tsinghua University. The final competition includes an oral defense of the Research Report in English, reviewed and chaired by the International Judging Committee.
Selection Criteria
The S.-T. Yau High School Science Award (Computer) strives to provide a fair and encouraging environment for all participants. Depending upon the level of competition, projects will be evaluated by regional, national or international panels. All panelists are asked to evaluate each project with professionalism and scholarship according to the following criteria.
1.Disciplinary relevance
Research topics must be related to the discipline of computer science, which can be either fundamental theoretical research or explorations of technical problems.
2. Significance of proposed research topic
The proposed research topic must be of theoretical relevance, technological innovation, and practical value and should have certain impacts on the development of a particular branch of computer science and technology.
3. Theoretical and technological originality
The research question must be clearly defined. The proposed topic must either be related to an original scientific question or significantly improve an existing research with innovative results. The working process of the research shall be clearly explained in the report. Additionally, the derivation of theory must be detailed and clear, with complete theoretical proof or algorithm implementation.
4. Robustness of research results
The research report should provide detailed experiment results and discussions. Participants are advised to submit videos, executable packages, and source codes to prove the authenticity of research process.
5. Teamwork Spirit
In case of team participation, each member must make concrete contributions to the research and avoid freeriding. All team members must participate in the oral defense, presenting part of the report and answering the questions from the judges.
6. Compliance with academic norms
The research report should be written in accordance with academic norms and include at least the following sections: 1) title; 2) abstract; 3) introduction to research background and existing research; 4) research materials and approaches; 5) details of theory derivation or algorithm implementation; 6) conclusion; 7) discussions; 8) bibliography; 9) acknowledgement of contributions of each member of the team. The research report must clearly distinguish original contents from existing materials that only provide background information. Any existing research not contributed by a member of the team must be clearly referenced. During the oral defense, participants must specify research background, key research materials, and all original contents in the team’s final report.
7. Academic ethics and integrity