Prizes and Awards

The International Linguistics Challenge offers prizes worth upwards of 1000 USD, including cash awards and certificates. Every participant receives a certificate, while Finalists can achieve Bronze, Silver, or Gold Honours. Top students are awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Prizes, and national awards recognize outstanding participants from each country.

Cash Prizes

• Senior: 1st Prize: 175 USD, 2nd Prize: 125 USD, 3rd Prize: 75 USD
• Youth: 1st Prize: 150 USD, 2nd Prize: 100 USD, 3rd Prize: 50 USD
• Junior: 1st Prize: 125 USD, 2nd Prize: 75 USD, 3rd Prize: 25 USD

Additional Awards

• National Awards for top three participants per country achieving at least 50% in the Final Round.
• Special Honour for digitally formatted Qualification Round submissions (e.g., LaTeX).
• Certificates for all participants and Finalists.

Further Achievements

Participating in international competitions contributes to your personal development and is an excellent achievement for your academic career. Participating in ILC is a unique experience that will expand your knowledge, connect you with linguistic research, and bring you together with like-minded students.

Global Network
Winners and former participants of ILC become part of the international ILC network: This network consists of outstanding and talented students from all around the world! It enables you to get in touch with inspiring youths and to connect with students worldwide who share your passion for language. If you have successfully participated, you will receive all information about our alumni network from us.

Opportunities (e.g., Scholarships)
Our team is working constantly to provide former participants with information about international and regional opportunities, including scholarships, sponsored events and other competitions. We will send the relevant information to qualified participants directly and publish them via the alumni platform.

Regional Meetups
The ILC team and local ambassadors are dedicated to organizing meetups in several parts of the world. All participants are welcome to attend and get in touch with other linguistics enthusiasts.

Hard copies of certificates are sent to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Prize winners. Others receive high-quality digital certificates with permanent verification IDs at lingchallenge.org/verify.

Ambassador Awards

Each year, special awards are given to the most active and responsible ambassadors to honour their excellent performance. The ILC coordinators use the information about the number of participants that you encouraged, as well as your documented activities & pictures, to honour the following awards:

• 1x ILC Ambassador Award for Most Participants:
  The ambassador who has encouraged the most students to participate in ILC will receive this award.


• 1x ILC Ambassador Award for Most Finalists:
  The ambassador who was able to support most students in progressing into the Final Round will receive this award.


• ILC Ambassador Award for Excellent Encouragement:
  Ambassadors who are extraordinarily active in their local community, have documented numerous activities to inspire students in linguistics, or have outstandingly supported students to join ILC receive this award.


• ILC Ambassador Award for the Rising Newcomer:
  This award is given to new ambassadors who joined during the current edition but have already made a significant contribution to outreach and shown exceptional early impact.


• ILC Ambassador Award for Science Communication:
  This award honors ambassadors who have introduced particularly creative, accessible, or innovative methods to communicate linguistics and the ILC mission to students and the public.


• ILC Ambassador Award for Collaboration:
  Presented to ambassadors who have organized impactful collaborations, whether with other ambassadors, schools, universities, or institutions, that have resulted in notable outreach success or expanded ILC's reach.


• ILC Ambassador Award for Long-Term Impact:
  Awarded to ambassadors who have consistently contributed to ILC over a period of at least three years and have demonstrated sustained commitment and long-term influence in their region.

Awards for Teachers

We highly value the dedication of teachers who guide students through the ILC journey. To recognize their exceptional involvement, we present several teacher-focused awards. These awards are honorary and not connected to cash prizes:

• 1x ILC Teacher Award for Finalist Supervision:
  Awarded to the teacher who has supervised the highest number of students in the Final Round.


• 1x ILC Teacher of the Year:
  Awarded to an outstanding teacher who has shown exceptional dedication, consistent student performance, and proactive engagement in promoting ILC.


• ILC Teaching Impact Award:
  Awarded to teachers whose students achieved outstanding results in the competition and who demonstrated exceptional dedication in supporting their participants.

FAQ: How do schools participate to win the awards? Schools participate automatically if a student registers with the school name. Please make sure that all of your students write the school name correctly and in the same way. Also, we recommend that the school's teachers register at ILC.

Awards for Schools

We understand the crucial role of teachers and schools in scientific education. Because of that, we award three types of school awards to honour the efforts of the teachers and the school. The awards are not connected to cash prizes:

• 1x ILC School Award for Most Participants:
  This award receives the school with the most overall participants in the Qualification Round.


• 1x ILC School Award for Most Finalists:
  This award receives the school with the most overall participants in the Final Found.


• ILC School Award for Excellence:
  Schools with many outstanding students who have achieved high results throughout the overall competition or have shown particular support for their students while participating receive this award.

FAQ: How do schools participate to win the awards? Schools participate automatically if a student registers with the school name. Please make sure that all of your students write the school name correctly and in the same way. Also, we recommend that the school's teachers register at ILC.