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Deadline dashboard

Every known upcoming deadline grouped by urgency. Dates marked estimated follow a previous year's pattern and have not been confirmed for the current cycle, so treat them as a prompt to check the official site rather than a fact.

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Closing within two weeks

2

If any of these matter to you, act today. Several registration systems close on time with no extension.

  1. 3d Breakthrough Junior Challenge Submissions are due no later than 15 September 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT. To be eligible for the scholarship you must also score at least five other submissions in the peer-to-peer review by 30 September 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT. Science
  2. 8d HMMT 20 September 2026 for both the November 2026 and February 2027 tournaments. Math

Closing this month

5

Enough time to prepare an entry, but not enough to start a season-long project.

  1. 3d Breakthrough Junior Challenge Submissions are due no later than 15 September 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT. To be eligible for the scholarship you must also score at least five other submissions in the peer-to-peer review by 30 September 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT. Science
  2. 8d HMMT 20 September 2026 for both the November 2026 and February 2027 tournaments. Math
  3. 18d Coca-Cola Scholars Program The application opens Monday 3 August 2026 and closes at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday 30 September 2026. Scholarships and challenges
  4. 24d YoungArts The 2027 application opened Tuesday 21 July 2026 and closes Tuesday 6 October 2026 at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT. Art and design
  5. 27d Wharton Investment Competition Team roster due 9 October 2026; registration for 2026-27 has closed Business

Next 90 days

23

The right window for starting a research project, forming a team or beginning structured study.

  1. 3d Breakthrough Junior Challenge Submissions are due no later than 15 September 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT. To be eligible for the scholarship you must also score at least five other submissions in the peer-to-peer review by 30 September 2026 at 11:59 PM PDT. Science
  2. 8d HMMT 20 September 2026 for both the November 2026 and February 2027 tournaments. Math
  3. 18d Coca-Cola Scholars Program The application opens Monday 3 August 2026 and closes at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday 30 September 2026. Scholarships and challenges
  4. 24d YoungArts The 2027 application opened Tuesday 21 July 2026 and closes Tuesday 6 October 2026 at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT. Art and design
  5. 27d Wharton Investment Competition Team roster due 9 October 2026; registration for 2026-27 has closed Business
  6. 33d AMC 10 and AMC 12 Regular registration closed 15 October 2026, which was the final deadline for new competition managers. Late registration closed 28 October 2026 and was open to returning competition managers only. Math
  7. 41d USA Biolympiad Two deadlines, both binding. The school must register and pay the $125 fee by 23 OCTOBER 2026. The final deadline for both schools and students to complete online registration is 15 NOVEMBER 2026. Student registration opened 7 August 2026. Science
  8. 44d Congressional App Challenge Submissions for 2026 close Monday 26 October 2026 at 12:00 pm ET. Coding
  9. 49d National Merit Scholarship Program For the 2028 program, all requests to update records with NMSC must be submitted no later than 15 October 2027. Scholarships and challenges
  10. 49d Patriot's Pen All entries must be submitted to a sponsoring VFW Post by midnight on 31 October 2026. Writing
  11. 49d Voice of Democracy Entries are due to your sponsoring local VFW Post by midnight on 31 October 2026 for the 2026-27 competition. Civics and social science
  12. 50d Bennington Young Writers Awards Submissions for the 2026-27 cycle open 1 September 2026 and close 1 November 2026. Writing
  13. 50d The Concord Review Four rolling deadlines, one per quarterly issue. For the Summer issue, 1 February at 11:59 p.m. EST. For the Fall issue, 1 May at 11:59 p.m. EDT. For the Winter issue, 1 August at 11:59 p.m. EDT. For the Spring issue, 1 November at 11:59 p.m. EST. Writing
  14. 54d Regeneron Science Talent Search The 2027 application closes Thursday 5 NOVEMBER 2026 at 8:00 p.m. ET. ALL parts, including recommendations and transcripts, are due by then with no exceptions. A separate Customer Support Deadline falls one day earlier, 4 November 2026 at 8:00 p.m. ET, by which the Society guarantees to resolve any reported issues. Science
  15. 58d From the Top Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award There are multiple deadlines each year, reported as April, September and November. Critically, high school seniors graduating in 2027 must apply by 9 NOVEMBER 2026 to be considered at all. Music
  16. 66d FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff selection runs 24 September 2026 at noon ET to 17 November 2026 at noon ET. Only teams that have selected a kickoff location and secured their registration fee by the payment due date will receive their Kickoff Kit at kickoff. Robotics
  17. 72d National Science Bowl Two deadlines. After preregistration approval, the coach must submit the Team 1 registration by 23 November 2026 at 11:59 pm local time or the school loses its reserved space. Separately, no registration is accepted later than three weeks before the regional event. Science
  18. 79d HOSA Competitive event participants must be registered for the ILC by 15 May. Science
  19. 79d National High School Mock Trial Championship The $200 jurisdiction membership fee is due by 15 January. State and district registration deadlines are set by each state programme and fall much earlier in the school year. Civics and social science
  20. 80d Business Professionals of America Membership deadline is 15 March of each membership year. Business
  21. 80d Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Regional deadlines vary. The first falls 1 December 2026 and some run as late as 6 January 2027. Art and writing may have different deadlines within the same region. Writing
  22. 81d MTNA Performance Competitions Brass, Voice (Senior and Young Artist) and Chamber Music: 2 December 2026 Music
  23. 85d American Rocketry Challenge Registration closes 6 December 2026 at 11:59 PM EST, and the competition is open only to the first 1,000 teams to complete payment and submit their registration. Engineering

Later in the year

15

Worth putting in a calendar now. Competitions with long preparation curves are won by students who started at this point.

  1. 121d Profile in Courage Essay Contest The 2027 contest deadline is 11 January 2027 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Winners are notified by email and telephone by 30 April. Writing
  2. 130d C-SPAN StudentCam All entries for the 2027 competition must be successfully uploaded by Wednesday 20 January 2027, by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time at the end of that day. Civics and social science
  3. 137d ExploraVision Projects must be submitted by the coach by 8:00 PM ET on 27 January 2027. Engineering
  4. 139d National Latin Exam Two different deadlines. Paper exams: Friday 29 January 2027. Online exams: Saturday 20 February 2027, after which no online registrations are accepted. Academic
  5. 139d Scripps National Spelling Bee School enrolment for the 2026-27 programme year is open from 18 August 2026 through 29 January 2027. Restrictions apply in some areas. Academic
  6. 143d National Civics Bee The 2027 application portal opens Monday 7 September 2026 at 6:01 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time and closes Tuesday 2 February 2027 at 11:59 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time. Civics and social science
  7. 165d eCYBERMISSION Competition registration closes 24 February 2027. Team Advisors and students must be fully registered and on complete teams by that date. Engineering
  8. 169d JEA Write-off Competitions Journalist of the Year: state winners' national applications are due 15 March at 11:59 p.m. CDT, after each state's own earlier deadline. SPJ/JEA High School Essay Contest: 21 February 2027 at 11:59 p.m. CST. National Student Media Contests: advance registration by the deadline listed for each convention. Writing
  9. 170d International Olympiad in AI For US and Canadian students: USAAIO registration for the 2027 edition is open and closes 31 January 2027 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Coding
  10. 176d Poetry Out Loud For 2027: the State Contest Deadline is Sunday 7 March 2027 and the State Champion and Chaperone Registration Deadline is Wednesday 10 March 2027. Art and design
  11. 184d NSDA National Tournament National Tournament registration materials are due 15 May 2027. Debate and speech
  12. 184d Purple Comet! Math Meet Team registration opens 1 February and continues through to the end of the competition, so there is no separate registration cut-off before the contest window closes. Math
  13. 215d Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars Program Applications must be submitted by 28 April 2027 at 11:59 p.m. in your local time zone. Incomplete applications and late submissions will not be considered. Scholarships and challenges
  14. 231d The Paradigm Challenge The current entry period runs from 10:00 a.m. PST on 2 May 2025 to 11:59 p.m. PST on 1 May 2027. Anyone who entered a prior Paradigm Challenge must submit new entries in this period. Engineering
  15. 322d Foyle Young Poets Midnight BST on 31 July. Late online entries are not accepted under any circumstances; postal entries must be post-dated on or before that date. Writing

Deadlines we could not confirm

90 listings have no confirmed upcoming deadline, usually because the organiser has not published the current cycle yet or because entry runs on a rolling basis. They are still in the directory with everything else known about them.