CALICO Informatics Competition

# CALICO Informatics Competition The CALICO Informatics Competition is a programming competition for pre-college students hosted by students at UC Berkeley. Run during the fall and spring seasons, each contest features a large set of original problems designed to promote the understanding of useful algorithms and grow competitors' problem-solving skills - a friendly on-ramp and training ground alongside contests like USACO. ## What You'll Do - Form a team and compete online in the fall or spring contest (the most recent was CALICO Spring '26 on April 11, 2026) - Solve a large number of problems ranging from beginner-friendly to highly challenging - Submit solutions through CALICOJudge, the competition's own online judge - Practice year-round with the public Problem Bank of past problems ## Who Should Apply Students up to 12th grade who enjoy algorithms, puzzles, or competitive programming - the wide difficulty spread means both first-time competitors and USACO regulars will find problems at their level. Contests are online, so teams can compete from anywhere, and Berkeley undergraduates write and run everything. ## Outcomes Competitors build algorithmic problem-solving skill against a national field, get exposure to problem styles used in collegiate competitive programming, and can track improvement across the fall and spring seasons. Strong performances are a meaningful signal for students building a competitive programming resume alongside USACO divisions.