Frequently Asked Questions

About TECS

  • TECS is a competition for aspiring technologists, engineers, creators and scientists anywhere in Ireland.

    Students work on a project throughout the month of November. They share progress updates each week and receive feedback and suggestions from an experienced mentor along the way. Prizes of up to €2,000 are awarded to the students who make the most progress during the competition, with prizes of up to €1,000 awarded to their schools.

  • TECS will run from the 4th to the 29th of November 2024. Students will submit weekly progress updates throughout the month of November and receive feedback and suggestions from an experienced mentor along the way.

    Submissions will be judged during December. Participating students and teachers will be invited to the awards ceremony in January, with prizes awarded to the students who made the most progress.

  • The TECS competition is open to Transition Year, 5th Year and 6th Year students in the Republic of Ireland and Year 11-14 students in Northern Ireland.

    We encourage applications from students who are interested in working on technical, scientific, or creative projects. Past participants have built apps, organised community events, conducted scientific research and written novels.

  • Absolutely! We're accepting applications from students enrolled in years 11, 12, 13 and 14 in Northern Ireland. The top student prize is equivalent to almost £1,700 and the top school prize is equivalent to almost £850.

Sign-ups

  • The signup form asks for some information about you, your school, and the project you plan to work on during November. Sign-up is open from the 8th to the 25th of October.

    Once you've signed up, you'll just need to submit a short progress update for 4 weeks in November. We’ll send reminders to fill out the weekly updates and give some leeway for students who are out sick or on holidays, so don’t worry if you're a little bit late with one of the submissions.

  • You can apply with a project you're working on as part of a team but each TECS participant must apply individually. If there are other people working on your project, please mention that in your application.

  • Of course! Your project depends entirely on you, but you can’t go wrong with just starting something and seeing how far you get with it. You don’t need a master plan, you just need to start.

    If you’re struggling to come up with an idea, you might find some inspiration at Coolest Projects, IndieHackers and Frontier. Do you see any day-to-day problems or frustrations you could solve? In your school? At home? With your friends?

  • Yes, you should definitely take part!

    You might even win a prize – prizes will be awarded to the participants who make the most progress over the four weeks, rather than those who start the strongest.

  • TECS is not just for coders. Past participants have built apps and websites, but they've also organised community events, conducted scientific research, raised money for charity and written novels.

    We're looking for students who are interested in building or creating anything. Please do apply!

  • Absolutely! Taking part in TECS is a great way to push yourself to make significantly more progress on a project you'll be working on anyway.

    Past participants found that the mentorship, sense of shared momentum, and chance of winning a cash prize encouraged them to think bigger and get more done than they would have alone.

  • Absolutely! TECS is only open to students in 4th/5th/6th year (or years 11-14 in Northern Ireland) but it isn't restricted to school projects. Past participants have submitted projects they're working on in their own time, in after-school clubs, and within work.

Programme

  • How much time you spend working on your project is entirely up to you, and each project is different. Some will take 2-3 hours a week, others will require far more than that. Your time commitment depends mainly on how interested you are in working on your project, and how much you want to win a prize.

    Aside from working on your project, the weekly TECS progress updates should take you no more than 10 minutes complete.

  • TECS prizes are awarded based on how much progress projects make from week to week. The weekly update is our way of keeping track of your progress. Each week while TECS is running, we’ll send out a form with 2–3 questions asking for a very brief update on what you achieved during the week.

  • Mentors will provide feedback on your project after the second round of progress updates are submitted. You’ll also be able to see some examples of what other students around Ireland are working on, and we’ll share some videos and resources throughout November.

  • No. We are most interested in how you progress with an idea, not the means by which you progress.

    You can organise events, set up a business, or build something physical. The only thing you'll need to use a computer (or smartphone) for is to submit your weekly progress updates.

Awards ceremony & prizes

  • Prizes for students range from €2000 to €500 and school prizes are between €1000 and €500. Winners will also be invited to a ceremony at UL and a trip to Dogpatch Labs in Dublin. Follow-on support will be available for projects too and everyone who completes TECS will get a certificate of completion.

  • Absolutely! Taking part in TECS is a great way to make progress on the project(s) you plan to talk about in your ISE entrance submission.

  • No, both programmes have separate application processes. However, both the ISE and Patch programmes value committed progress on project work, so your TECS project can be used as part of your application for either.

  • The awards ceremony will be held in January 2025, at the University of Limerick.

  • We’d love to hear from you. Please grab some time during our Office Hours or email us at info@jointecs.org.

Teachers and schools

  • Yes, multiple entries from each school are allowed. If your students are working on a technical, scientific or creative project as part of their coursework during November, we encourage the whole class to register for TECS to benefit from the mentorship, sense of shared momentum, and incentive to make progress.

  • Students can apply with a project they're working on as part of a team but every TECS participant must apply individually. If there are other multiple working on a project, students must mention that in their application.

TECS awards ceremony on RTE News