Programming Competition
Join us for the 13th annual Lucid Programming Competition on October 25, 2025. Compete against students from universities across the U.S. The top 3 winners will get Amazon gift cards ranging from $50 to $300. It's always a good time—you won't want to miss it!
Participating Universities
Join students from across the county in the competition. The competition is open to all current university students. Some of the universities represented are:
Utah:
- Brigham Young University (BYU)
- University of Utah (U of U)
- Utah State University (USU)
North Carolina:
- Duke University
- North Carolina State University (NCSU)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill)
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte)
Participation Options
We will have 5 locations where students can participate in the competition.
- BYU
- USU
- U of U
- UNC Charlotte
- UNC Chapel Hill
Participants will receive breakfast before the competition and lunch after. They will also be able to pick up their shirts and stickers while there.
Register
Complete this form to secure your spot in the competition. Please fill out both forms. You will receive a link to update your responses if needed:
Free stuff
- This year’s competition t-shirt. It can be picked up on the day of the competition. Shirts are first-come, first-served.
- $500+ in raffle prizes. Everyone who completes at least one problem will be entered into the raffle automatically.
Schedule
9:00 a.m. MDT (11:00 a.m. EDT) Kick-off meeting over Zoom
9:15 a.m. MDT (11:15 a.m. EDT) Ready, set, go!
Code like crazy
1:15 p.m. MDT (3:15 p.m. EDT) Time’s up!
Take a short break
1:25 p.m. MDT (3:25 p.m. EDT) Prize raffle, winners announced, and solutions revealed
Competition details
Rules
- The competition is open to current university students at participating universities.
- Students will compete in teams of 1-3.
- Teams will have 4 hours to solve as many problems as they can.
About the problems
- Teams will receive at least 10 problems, ranging in difficulty from very easy to hard. The problems will be ordered randomly, not based on difficulty.
- Problems will be online in HackerRank and must be submitted through HackerRank.
- Teams can use any programming language, as long as it's supported by HackerRank.
- All problems will use standard input and output.
- Each problem will define the following:
- Known test cases. Solutions can be run and re-run against these known test cases without any penalties.
- Unknown test cases. Solutions will be graded based on these test cases upon submission.
- A time limit. Solutions will time out and fail if not completed within the specified time limit. Algorithms may need to be optimized if submissions are timing out.
Scoring
- The team who correctly solves the most problems within the allotted 4 hours will win the competition.
- In the case of a tie, the winner will be determined by the lowest cumulative time to solve each problem. (Note: A 20-minute penalty will be added for each incorrect submission on problems that were eventually solved.)
Prizes
The top 3 teams at each location will take home Amazon gift cards! Prizes range from $50 to $300
Location
We will provide multiple in-person options for students in both Utah and North Carolina:
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We will provide food before and after the competition
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Utah: breakfast and lunch
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North Carolina: lunch and a snack
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Students competing in person at a Utah location can either use a provided lab computer or bring their own laptop to use.
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Students competing in person at a North Carolina location must bring their own laptop to use.
Look out for email closer to the event with details about the location.