Who can enter,
and how it works.
GQC is built for students who want to do original work and have it taken seriously. Read the rules below before you start an application — most of what people get wrong is here.
The four rules.
- Age
- Every team member must be aged between 14 and 22 on the day applications open (1 March 2026).
- Enrolment
- All members must be currently enrolled in secondary school or in an undergraduate programme. Recent graduates within twelve months of completion are eligible.
- Team size
- Teams of two to five students. Solo entries are not accepted in the open round but are admissible in the Invitational Track on a case-by-case basis.
- Originality
- Work must be the team’s own and produced for GQC during the 2026 cycle. Projects previously submitted to other competitions are allowed if substantially extended; teams must declare this in the entry form.
Six months from open call to Global Final.
What we ask for.
The first-stage application is deliberately short. We are looking for clear thinking, not slick presentation. You will need:
- A 500-word problem brief — the problem you want to work on, who is affected, and why you are the right team to look at it.
- A 90-second video introducing the team. Phone footage is fine; rehearsed studio video is not required.
- Team details: school or university, year of study, country of residence, age on 1 March 2026.
- One short reference from a teacher, lecturer or programme leader who can vouch for the team.
Shortlisted teams are notified by 12 June and then enter the Learning Experience, where the deliverables expand: an evidence pack, a working prototype or campaign artefact, and a six-minute pitch. The Judging Criteria explain how each deliverable is weighted.
No team is priced out.
The standard registration fee is £30 per team to cover platform costs. The fee is waived in full for any school or university listed on the UK’s POLAR4 quintile-one register, on the US Pell-eligible list, or for any team applying from a country on the World Bank low- or lower-middle-income list. Teams in any other situation can request a fee waiver in the application form; we do not ask why.
Travel and accommodation for shortlisted teams attending a regional showcase are funded directly by GQC and our city hosts. Teams reaching the Global Final receive a fully-covered travel bursary to New York.