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TURN INFORMATION INTO POWERFUL AI RESULTS The AI Prompt Engineering category of the Coding Olympiad challenges students to use artificial intelligence creatively, logically, and effectively by designing, analyzing, and refining prompts to achieve specific results. No prior coding or AI prompt engineering experience is required. Participants are challenged to understand information, identify requirements, communicate clearly with AI tools, and create prompts that produce accurate and relevant results within a limited time. WHAT IS AI PROMPT ENGINEERING? A prompt is an instruction, question, or set of requirements given to an AI tool to produce a desired result. Prompt engineering is the ability to design and refine prompts so that an AI tool understands the task, follows the given requirements, and produces the expected output. A well-designed prompt can make the difference between a general or incomplete answer and a precise, useful result. Effective prompt engineering requires more than simply asking a question. It involves understanding the task, identifying important information and constraints, structuring instructions clearly, and refining the prompt when necessary. WHAT WILL PARTICIPANTS DO? Participants will work with different types of information and real-world tasks, including:
Depending on the task, participants may be asked to work in different directions. They may need to turn given information into an effective prompt, improve or reconstruct an existing prompt, or determine the expected result from a given prompt. Participants may be asked to:
EXAMPLE TASK Imagine you are given the following information:
You are asked to create a prompt that makes an AI tool:
A weak prompt might be: Analyze the students' scores. A stronger prompt would be: Analyze the student scores provided in the table. Calculate the average score for Mathematics, Science and English for each student. Rank all students from highest to lowest based on their average score. Present the results in a table showing each student's name, average score and rank. Then identify the student with the highest average score and provide a one-sentence conclusion. Use the information from the table only and do not add or assume any data. The second prompt is more effective because it clearly defines the task, required calculations, ranking method, output format and limitations. In the competition, tasks may be more complex and may include charts, graphs, statistics, incomplete or conflicting information, hidden requirements or existing prompts that need to be improved. Participants must determine what the AI needs to know and how the prompt should be structured to produce the required result.
THINK BEYOND THE PROMPT AI Prompt Engineering is not simply about writing longer instructions. A good prompt must be clear, precise, logical, and purposeful. Participants must think about:
The goal is not simply to create a prompt that sounds good, but to create a prompt that works reliably and produces the required result.
WHY PARTICIPATE? The AI Prompt Engineering category develops skills that are increasingly important in education, technology, research and everyday problem-solving. Participants strengthen their logical thinking, creativity, analytical skills, attention to detail, problem-solving abilities and ability to work effectively with AI tools. No coding background is required — only the ability to understand a task, think critically and turn requirements into effective instructions for AI.
