Twenty-five teams of ‘programmers’ competed in the DCC-FCUP in a special edition marking the 25th anniversary of ToPAS – the Programming Tournament for Secondary School Students.
The Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP) hosted another edition of ToPAS – the Programming Tournament for Secondary School Students, an initiative organized by the Department of Computer Science which, this year, celebrated its 25th anniversary.
The 2026 edition brought together 25 teams from 14 schools across Northern Portugal, in a day marked by competition, logical reasoning, and enthusiasm for programming.
This year’s winners were the team “NoFormat”, composed of 12th-grade students from Colégio Internato dos Carvalhos (CIC), who solved 7 of the 8 proposed problems. They were followed by “BestProgITM” from Colégio de Gaia – Escola Católica, and “NullPointer”, who placed third, also from CIC.
Over the course of four hours, teams of three students tackled eight programming challenges using languages such as C/C++, Java, and Pascal. The final ranking depended not only on the number of problems solved, but also on the time taken to find the solutions.
The competition was marked by constant changes in the leaderboard, reflecting the close balance between the participating teams. Whenever a team solved a problem, they received a balloon, a tradition that continues to bring colour and energy to the atmosphere in the DCC laboratories.
José Paulo Leal, professor at the Department of Computer Science and involved in the organization since the very beginning, expressed his pride in the initiative’s success: “When we started, we never imagined that ToPAS would continue for so long. Over these 25 years, more than 750 teams and over 2,000 secondary school students have taken part, giving us the opportunity to spark their interest in programming. It was, and still is, worth it!”
Maria Manuel Saavedra, coordinator of the Informatics course at CIC and a regular participant in the initiative for more than two decades, also highlighted the educational importance of the tournament. “It was a very enriching experience for all participants, encouraging creativity, logical thinking, and teamwork,” she said. “I believe these challenges help develop these kinds of skills and provide learning opportunities outside the classroom, which is extremely positive,” she added.
For the teacher, it is especially remarkable to see “the responsibility with which students approach these competitions and how they demonstrate their autonomy in the world of programming.”
The winners received prizes offered by the organization, and all participating teams were awarded certificates.
Created in 2001, ToPAS has become a national reference in promoting programming among secondary school students. The initiative also inspired the creation of similar competitions at other higher education institutions, such as ToPAS Sul at the University of Algarve and ToPAS Lx at NOVA University Lisbon.
Coordinated by professors José Paulo Leal and Ana Paula Tomás, the tournament annually involves dozens of FCUP professors, students, and staff members in the organization of the competition.
