Welcome to the National Scratch Competition
Scratch is a visual programming language that makes it easy for young people to create their own interactive stories, animations, games, music and art – and share their creations on the web.
Scratch is developed by the MIT Media Lab and is available free of charge.
- Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively – essential skills for life in the 21st century.
- Scratch teaches computational thinking and problem-solving using a powerful yet simple-to-use building block approach to app creation.
- Scratch is a fun and interesting way to introduce software development to students. Using Scratch, students gain a better understanding of a career in IT and can make more informed CAO choices.
The National Scratch Competition is brought to you by the Irish Computer Society and supported by Lero . It is free to enter and is open to ages 5-18 years.
Competition
The competition is open to students in primary and second level schools in Ireland, and to students attending after-school coding clubs such as Coderdojo. Projects can be about anything, the only limit is the student’s imagination.
The next National Scratch Competition is open for entries and deadline for project submissions is 20thMarch 2026. Teachers and club mentors should register here. The competition rules can be viewed here. The Scratch competition is available to the students attending schools based in Ireland only.
View the results of our 2023 competition.
Certificates for All
Every student who submits a completed project will receive a Certificate of Participation in the National Scratch Competition, in recognition of their work and creativity.
Students who complete their Scratch coursework are eligible to claim Scratch Completion Certificates which can be used for the SFI DPSM Award. If you complete Scratch resources and you would like certificates of completion for your students, please emails us at info@ics.ie
Free Resources
Teachers and entrants may avail of free downloads, including dozens of lesson plans, workbooks and other resources for teaching and learning Scratch from our Scratch colleagues in the Lero Research Ireland Centre for Software . Separate resources are available for primary and secondary age groups.
In support of Scratch and the benefits it offers to students, teachers and schools, the following organisations in Ireland work together to sponsor the Scratch National Competition:
