Supported by Oracle Academy, the ADFABER Association has launched the 12th edition of the online “Learn to Code with Alice” national competition in Romania, a free educational program through which middle and high school students from across the country learn the basics of programming by building their own projects, under the guidance of a teacher.

Since its first edition, the competition has brought together more than 3,600 students and over 260 schools from all counties of Romania, becoming one of the most extensive extracurricular digital education programs in the country.

“In previous editions, we had teams made up of students who had never written a single line of code before and who, by the end of the competition, were among the winners. Where you start does not necessarily matter — what matters is determination and the desire to learn something new, a skill that will be useful to them regardless of the field they choose in the future, especially if they pursue a technical field,” said Alin Chiriac, founder of the ADFABER Association.

Diana-Rodica Costea, a teacher who coordinated a team in a previous edition, describes the transformation she witnessed in her students: “I had the opportunity to see them work with enthusiasm and creativity. I was impressed by how much they progressed in just a few weeks, applying the theoretical concepts they had learned in class in a completely new environment. The fact that they were among the winners motivates them to continue learning.”

For the Ctrl+Winners team, made up of students who participated in a previous edition, the competition was more about discovering their own potential: “I entered this competition with the desire to discover something new and develop my creativity. I discovered that if I set my mind to something, I can actually succeed, especially if I believe in myself,” said one student.

This year’s edition focuses on one of today’s most widely discussed technological directions: “Imagine the Future with Artificial Intelligence.” Students are challenged to imagine and build, using the Alice 3 visual programming platform, projects that show how intelligent technology can help people — at school, at home, or in the city.

The ideas can take many different forms: a virtual assistant that helps a classmate with their homework, an animated story about a smarter city, or a simple game through which participants demonstrate how a computer actually “thinks.”

Teams consist of two students from the same level of education (middle school, grades 5–8, or high school, grades 9–12) and one coordinating teacher, who can mentor several teams at the same time. No prior programming experience is required — participants receive all the necessary study materials and tutorials free of charge, in Romanian, and teachers do not need to be programming experts themselves.

This year’s competition calendar is as follows:

  • September 14 – October 12, 2026 — Registration period
  • October 13 – November 3, 2026 — Project development and submission
  • November 4–25, 2026 — Project evaluation by a specialized judging committee
  • December 4, 2026 — Announcement of the winning teams

At the end of the competition, all students who submit a complete project receive a participation diploma, while coordinating teachers receive an official certificate of coordination. The six best teams — three from middle school and three from high school — will receive prizes.

Registration is exclusively online, by completing the form available on the competition’s official page: adfaber.org/alice, where the full competition rules are also available.

By leveraging Oracle Academy resources, institutions can equip students with hands-on experience in cloud computing and application development — skills that are increasingly essential in today’s workforce.

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