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Glossary

How are projects judged at the IOOVC?

At the IOOVC every project gets a score from 0 to 100, given by the judging committee on four criteria with different weights: the idea (weight 4), clarity (weight 3), how it works (weight 2) and polish, which covers bugs, accessibility and security (weight 1). The formula is Final Score = (4·C1 + 3·C2 + 2·C3 + 1·C4) / 10.

The four criteria, one by one

C1 · The Idea (weight 4): Value proposition, edge and originality: what weighs most in the score.

C2 · Clarity (weight 3): Whether the idea, its value and its edge came across. A good idea explained badly is scored as it was explained.

C3 · How It Works (weight 2): Whether what you promised actually works, with attention to UI/UX, smoothness and usability.

C4 · Polish (weight 1): Bugs, instability, accessibility and security problems. The fewer the issues, the higher the score.

Who judges and how

The committee has four people, the same from start to finish: the people who run the olympiad are the ones who read, test and score every project. That is why the description has to carry a test login and password, and the interface has to be in English: without them the committee cannot use what you promised.

Judging starts after the submission deadline (November 1, 2026) and ends on the eve of the announcement. Full scores are published together with the winners, on December 25, 2026. University and Open are judged by the same committee and the same criteria, but ranked separately.

What this changes in your project

The weights say where to invest. The idea and clarity add up to 7 of the 10 weight points: a clear, well-explained proposal is worth more than one more feature.

How it works and polish are where a project that only looks finished loses points: the committee signs in and uses it. A bug during the test, an inaccessible screen or a security flaw all count against you.

When this matters

You are writing the project description and want to know what the committee will look for.

You have to choose between polishing what already exists or adding one more feature before the deadline.

You want to understand why the final score is a weighted average and not a simple sum.

Our position

A good idea explained badly is scored as it was explained. The IOOVC weighs the idea and its clarity more than the number of features, and the same committee that runs the olympiad is the one that tests and scores every project.