A competition that brought together 310 high school students from across Romania challenged participants to turn classroom lessons into interactive games. Organized by Adfaber and supported by Oracle Academy, the initiative gave technology enthusiasts a platform to test both their knowledge and creativity by building engaging applications and game-based learning experiences.
In the 2026 edition, the cohort of 310 students, guided by 85 teachers, took on the challenge of transforming ideas into code—and code into fully functional lessons and games.
Students from high schools across the country, both from large cities and rural areas, took part in the competition and created their own games or educational applications. For many students, programming begins with exercises solved on the board or in a notebook. But true understanding appeared when they started to build something real: a game, an application, an idea that begins to work.
The National Java Competition–Program in Greenfoot offers exactly this context: a space where students can experiment, make mistakes, test ideas, and discover how an idea comes to life through code.
Each project meant hours of work, attempts, fixed bugs, and ideas transformed into functional applications. In this sense, all the students who participated are winners, because they learned, built, and took real steps toward understanding technology.
It is one thing this competition proves year after year, that the most valuable moment is not when you win, it is when your code finally works.
Below are the winning teams and a video about them.
Video: https://youtu.be/ZTTdwTSArp8
First place – InfoBros
Project: Science QuestGarabet Ibraileanu High School
Coordinating Teacher: Rosca Vasilica
Students: Lacatus Cosmin Sebastian and Chiscareanu Silviu-Constantin
Second place – EcoPolitistii
Gheorghe Lazar National College
Coordinating Teacher: Simona Mihalea Popa
Students: Ionescu Ioan-Rares and Furnigea Matei-Cristian
Third place – Teoria Codului
Project: Santa’s ManagerCallatis Theoretical High School
Coordinating Teacher: Popa Gabriela Maria
Students: Dumitru Bogdan-Nicolae and Costea Alexandru
The jury also awarded three special mentions to projects that stood out through originality and technical implementation.
Pixel Coders
Project: Code RunnerIulia Hasdeu National College
Coordinating Teacher: Costea Diana
Students: Vraciu Luca-Alexandru and Preda David-Alexandru
Zânuțele Intergalactice
Project: SpaceMathBogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu National College
Coordinating Teacher: Burța Alin
Students: Radu Marina-Andreea and Florescu Andra-Maria
The Source
Project: Guga Bot
Spiru Haret National College
Coordinating Teacher: Dan Gabriela
Students: Munteanu Pavel and Vrinceanu Rares
“Competitions like this are perfect opportunities for students to develop their skills, step outside their comfort zone, and learn something new—something absolutely essential for anyone who wants to pursue a career in the IT industry,” said coordinating teacher Rosca Vasilica.
Students noted that the competition experience was not only about programming, but also about learning how to collaborate in a real project. “Beyond coding, teamwork helped us a lot. I realized that to build such a game you need a teammate with whom you can develop ideas and divide tasks based on each person’s strengths. I think this will help me in the future as well,” said one student.
“Beyond the prize, the greatest achievement is that the students accepted this challenge, succeeded in creating an application, and improved their working skills. It is also very important that they receive feedback and know that their application can be used in the education of other students,” said coordinating teacher Simona Mihaela Popa.
“Competitions add something extra to what students learn at school. In school there is a lot of theory and many algorithms behind it. In competitions like this, students step outside that algorithmic world and are motivated to move forward toward programming. It is no longer just theory. They have to collaborate, research, and find solutions for the difficulties they encounter,” said coordinating teacher Popa Gabriela Maria.
Congratulations to all participants and mentors for their effort and passion in developing their projects!
Thank you to Adfaber for all your work and collaboration with Oracle Academy!Not a member? Join now. Learn more at academy.oracle.com