Your idea. Your build. Your voice.

Divisions go by age on Sat 16 Jan 2027, not school year: Primary 7–12, Secondary 13–17, University 18–24. So most students in P6 this year are in Primary, and JC1, poly and ITE students aged 17 are in Secondary. Use the calculator on the home page. A team plays in the division of its oldest member. Siblings can team up across two neighbouring divisions: a 10-year-old and a 14-year-old play in Secondary. A sibling aged 13–17 can also team up with an older sibling aged 18–24 in University, with a parent's OK, if the younger one is at least 13 when the team registers.

Yes. A whole team can choose to play one division up: a Primary team in Secondary, or a Secondary team in University if every member is 16 or over on Sat 16 Jan 2027. Nobody plays down. Your child keeps every protection for their own age: a lead adult for ages 12 and under, a parent's confirmation, and tools allowed for their actual age. Playing up earns no extra marks: judges score the project against that division's requirements, with no bonus or penalty for being younger.

Only if every under-18 member was born within two years of every adult member, for example JC or poly schoolmates, or if they're family, such as siblings or cousins. For this rule, under 18 means under 18 on Mon 19 Oct 2026. The under-18 member's parent sees the adult teammates' display names and ages and agrees to them separately, and adult members follow the Code of Conduct's rules for adult participants. An adult member can't register the team or pay for it. Full details are in rule 4.

S$68 per student covers the resource pack, screening and judging, Demo Weekend entry, student lunch and certificates, whether or not your child's team is a finalist. There's no other entry fee. You won't need to buy kits or paid tools; free tools can score full marks. Transport, your own devices and lunch for accompanying adults aren't included.

About 15 places are free for students who need financial support. Tick "apply for a fee-waiver place" when registering, then upload proof of school financial assistance or a short teacher's note through a private link. No bank statements. Two staff members review it privately, and judges and partners are never told. Your registration stays open while we review, and your team's challenge unlocks once every confirmation is in, without waiting for the result. Fee-waiver places are open to every division, including University.

If a student withdraws, the fee isn't refunded. If we cancel the event, you get a full refund, and your child's project stays theirs. If we postpone it, you can keep your place or take a full refund. Refunds are limited to the fee paid, and we aim to process them within 14 days of receiving what we need. Not being chosen as a finalist isn't a refund case: the fee covers screening, Demo Weekend entry, lunch and certificates for every student. Full details are on the Refunds page.

You can teach tools, explain ideas and help troubleshoot. The idea, the decisions and the presentation must be your child's. For under-13s, you may type or operate a tool as your child directs, where the tool's rules allow it, but you can't use your own account on a 13+ or 18+ AI tool (such as ChatGPT) to do AI work for them. Please write down all help in the process log. It's not a penalty; it helps judges see your child's own work.

Staff, judges and volunteers sign a code of conduct, and none of them is ever placed alone with a child in a closed room. Children aged 12 or under have a lead adult present, with sign-in, sign-out and authorised pick-up each day. You can also come as the accompanying adult. The University division has participants aged 18–24. Adult participants follow the Code of Conduct's rules for adults, and under-18s and adults team up only in the ways set out in rule 4.

Yes. As set out in the participation agreement, event photos and video, including presentations, may be used on YAI's and YCESS's own channels to show and promote YAI. We never publish birthdays, contact details or other personal data with them. If you have a concern, email admin@ycess.com before the event. On the day, you can ask for a red lanyard at check-in and our photographers will avoid featuring your child.

No. Posting is optional, and nobody has to post; teams that don't post are judged exactly the same on the five criteria. Under-13s don't post from their own accounts: a parent or the school can post for the team. No faces of under-13s without a parent's OK, and never school names, full names or locations. See Share your build.

Your child and their team. YCESS only gets a non-exclusive right to show and promote the project for YAI. We never pass it to partners for commercial use or AI training. Any third-party material keeps its own licence.

No. We never give student or parent lists, or referral data, to partners. If a partner has a booth at Demo Weekend, whether you leave your details there is entirely up to you.

We don't promise any admissions outcome, scholarship, official certification or entry to other competitions. Certificates record what your child did; how any school treats them is up to that school. What your child gets is a project they made themselves and the experience of explaining it.

No. Students build at their own pace during the season, at home or at school. Demo Weekend is two daytime days, and there's no building on the day.

Yes. Each student may bring one accompanying adult, who sits in the audience and can't answer for the student. Lunch is provided for students only, so please bring or buy your own.

Not every team. Registration has no cap, so we choose finalists: after an online screening from 10 to 12 Jan, 3–5 finalist teams per track in each division present live on Sat 16 Jan. We can't know in advance how many teams will take part, so we can't promise any team a place in the finals. Whatever the result, every valid submission receives a certificate, every participant is welcome at Demo Weekend, and every team may exhibit its project on Sunday.

No. YAI is an out-of-school programme organised by YCESS. Families register and pay for their own teams. Schools can simply share the information if they wish.

Yes. Every team with a member aged 12 or under on Sat 16 Jan 2027 has a lead adult, whatever its division: a teacher or parent aged 21 or over who isn't taking part this season. A lead adult registers the team, looks after safety, comes to Demo Weekend and arranges pick-up. One teacher may lead more than one team, as long as they can be there for all of them.

The same as parents: teach tools, explain ideas, help troubleshoot. The ideas, decisions and presentation are the students'. Each team's project must be its own; don't pass one team's idea or code to another. Help should be written in the process log. If you also review or judge for YAI, you'll step aside from teams you know.

Yes. Each team has 1–4 members and plays in the division of its oldest member, or one division up. Cross-school teams are welcome. Each student can only be on one team. Students under 18 and adults team up only as set out in rule 4.

Fees are usually paid by each team's representative. If your school would like to cover fees for its teams, please email support@ycess.com before registering. Students who need financial support can apply for a fee-waiver place with a teacher's note.

The build window runs from Mon 19 Oct 2026 to Sat 9 Jan 2027. For MOE primary and secondary schools, the main build time falls in the year-end holidays (21 Nov – 31 Dec; for JC1 students, from 28 Nov). Term 1 starts on Mon 4 Jan, the week before the deadline, so we suggest teams finish during the holidays. Demo Weekend is the second weekend of term. Students sitting O- or A-Level exams should put their exams first. Polytechnic, ITE and university students: please check your own exam and term dates.

Yes. Email support@ycess.com and we'll send an A3 poster with a QR code for your school, in English or Chinese, and a short message for class groups. We don't need any student data from schools.

Yes, if they tell us when they register. You'll step aside from anything to do with their team. People who can see unpublished challenges or scores (YAI staff, interns and volunteers, judges and screening reviewers) can't take part themselves.