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Competitions open to Sierra Leoneans, 2026-27
These are the competitions open for applications now that Sierra Leoneans can apply for: ones based in Sierra Leone and ones elsewhere that accept people from Sierra Leone. Each is one listing on the organisation's own page, with its own closing date and what it asks for. We checked each one is free to apply for.
73 open now. Soonest deadline first, then the ones with no closing date published.
- African Union Theme of the Year 2027 Logo Competition · African Union Commission
Closes 23 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Build, Ship, Shape: Amazon Developer Hackathon · Amazon (hosted on Devpost)
Closes 23 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - 21st Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting · Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism
Closes 24 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Immerse Education Essay Competition 2027 · Immerse Education
Closes 25 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - 4YFN27 Awards startup competition · GSMA 4YFN
Closes 26 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - OpenCV AI Competition 2026, powered by AWS · OpenCV and AWS (hosted on Devpost)
Closes 26 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Agribusiness Growth Challenge, Window 3 (Business Growth Awards) · Agri-Business Facility for Africa (GIZ, with the EU and OACPS)
Closes 30 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Build Your AgriCanvas competition, Submission Window 3 (cashew value chain) · MOVE-ComCashew (GIZ) with the Agribusiness Facility for Africa
Closes 30 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Whitley Awards 2027 · Whitley Fund for Nature
Closes 30 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Spio-Garbrah National and African Youth Essay Competition 2026 · ABCDE Africa
Closes 30 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Nebius x NVIDIA Global AI Hackathon · Nebius and NVIDIA (hosted on Devpost)
Closes 30 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - True Story Award 2027 for reportage · True Story Award
Closes 31 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Hacktoberfest 2026 · Major League Hacking and DEV, presented by DigitalOcean
Closes 31 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - AIEI Startup Pitch Session at the AI Horizon Conference 2026 · AI Ethics and Integrity International Association (AIEI)
Closes 31 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Bias Bounty Mapping Equity Challenge · Zindi
Closes 31 October 2026 · Open to all African countries - Evaristo Prize for African Poetry 2026 (USD 1,500 for ten poems) · African Poetry Book Fund, Brown University
Closes 1 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Bennington Young Artists Awards (high school art prize, worldwide) · Bennington College
Closes 1 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Bennington Young Innovators Awards (high school AI thinking prize, worldwide) · Bennington College
Closes 1 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Bennington Young Scientists Awards · Bennington College
Closes 1 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Bennington Young Musicians Awards · Bennington College
Closes 1 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Global Energy Hackathon 2026 · Anneru Solutions
Closes 1 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - IUSSP Early Career Award 2027 (Africa Region) · International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP)
Closes 1 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Pulitzer Center Local Letters for Global Change Contest 2026 · Pulitzer Center
Closes 1 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Bennington Young Writers Awards 2026 (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) · Bennington College
Closes 1 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - ARC Prize 2026 · ARC Prize Foundation
Closes 2 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - AIPS Sport Media Awards 2026 · AIPS, the International Sports Press Association
Closes 4 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - MIT Solve 2027 Global Climate Challenge · MIT Solve
Closes 6 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - MIT Solve 2027 Global Economic Prosperity Challenge · MIT Solve
Closes 6 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - MIT Solve 2027 Global Health Challenge · MIT Solve
Closes 6 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - MIT Solve 2027 Global Learning Challenge · MIT Solve
Closes 6 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Africa Jobs Fund x SDRB Somalia Business Plan Competition 2026 · Africa Jobs Fund
Closes 6 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - WIPO IP Moot Court Competition 2027 · World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Closes 6 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - World Food Day Poster Contest 2026 (ages 5 to 19) · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Closes 6 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - EQUALS in Tech Awards 2027 · EQUALS Global Partnership
Closes 7 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Anzisha Prize fellowship · Anzisha
Closes 10 November 2026 · Open in 21 African countries, including Sierra Leone - FoodTech 500 Global Ranking 2026 · Forward Fooding
Closes 15 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Research Question Prize (November 2026 round) · Aldevere
Closes 15 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - D-Prize Global Competition 2026 · D-Prize
Closes 15 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Sony World Photography Awards 2027, Student competition · World Photography Organisation
Closes 27 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - UNESCO-Al Fozan International Prize for Young Scientists in STEM, third edition: US$50,000 for one laureate from Africa · UNESCO
Closes 30 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Lumiere Scholars Essay Award, fall 2026 round · Lumiere Education
Closes 30 November 2026 · Open to all African countries - Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets · African Poetry Book Fund
Closes 1 December 2026 · Open to all African countries - Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry · African Poetry Book Fund (Brown University)
Closes 1 December 2026 · Open to all African countries - Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 (ages 17 and under) · Natural History Museum, London
Closes 3 December 2026 · Open to all African countries - Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026, Adult Competition (entry fee waived for residents of listed African countries) · Natural History Museum, London
Closes 3 December 2026 · Open to all African countries - D-Prize Challenge 2026/2027 · D-Prize
Closes 6 December 2026 · Open to all African countries - QoG Best Paper Award 2026 · Quality of Government Institute, University of Gothenburg
Closes 9 December 2026 · Open to all African countries - Africa Energy Entrepreneurship Award 2026 · Octopus Energy
Closes 11 December 2026 · Open in 47 African countries, including Sierra Leone - World Series of Innovation 2026-27 · NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship)
Closes 13 December 2026 · Open to all African countries - Allianz x Social Shifters MoveNow Social Innovation Challenge 2026 · Social Shifters and Allianz
Closes 18 December 2026 · Open to all African countries - Tech Hub Africa Hackathon 2026 · Tech Hub Africa
Closes 18 December 2026 · Open to all African countries - Sony World Photography Awards 2027, Single Image competition · World Photography Organisation
Closes 5 January 2027 · Open to all African countries - Sony World Photography Awards 2027, Youth competition · World Photography Organisation
Closes 5 January 2027 · Open to all African countries - Sony World Photography Awards 2027, Series competition · World Photography Organisation
Closes 12 January 2027 · Open to all African countries - Diamond Challenge 2027 · Horn Entrepreneurship, University of Delaware
Closes 14 January 2027 · Open to all African countries - The Earth Prize 2027 · The Earth Foundation
Closes 31 January 2027 · Open to all African countries - Global Ideas Competition 2027 (Leaders of Tomorrow) · St. Gallen Symposium
Closes 1 February 2027 · Open to all African countries - Human Rights Essay Award 2027 · Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, American University Washington College of Law
Closes 3 February 2027 · Open to all African countries - Slingshot Challenge 2027 · National Geographic Society
Closes 5 February 2027 · Open to all African countries - Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition 2027 · Blue Ocean Competition
Closes 21 February 2027 · Open to all African countries - Through MY EYES International Competition 2026/27 (poetry, art, short film) · Never Such Innocence
Closes 26 February 2027 · Open to all African countries - TSL International Student Competition 2027: Navigating El Nino · Trust for Sustainable Living
Closes 1 March 2027 · Open to all African countries - Science Without Borders Challenge 2027 (Navigate with Care) · Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
Closes 1 March 2027 · Open to all African countries - Technovation Challenge 2027 season (girls track and mixed track) · Technovation
Closes 11 March 2027 · Open to all African countries - Escape Pod original science fiction submissions · Escape Artists (Escape Pod)
Closes 31 May 2027 · Open to all African countries - Blue Planet Awareness Contest 2027 · Bow Seat Creative Action for Conservation
Closes 7 June 2027 · Open to all African countries - International Woolmark Prize · The Woolmark Company
Open. No closing date published. · Open to all African countries - EF Hult Prize 2027 student startup competition · Hult Prize Foundation
Open. No closing date published. · Open to all African countries - Hackaholics 7.0 Startup Pitch Competition · Wema Bank
Open. No closing date published. · Open to all African countries - WEMA Hackaholics 7.0 (2026) · Wema Bank
Open. No closing date published. · Open to all African countries - Hackaholics 7.0 · Wema Bank
Open. No closing date published. · Open to all African countries - ARSO 14th Continental Essay Competition 2026/2027 · African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO)
Open. No closing date published. · Open to all African countries - American University Human Rights Essay Award 2027 | Full Tuition Scholarship · American University Washington College of Law
Open. No closing date published. · Open to all African countries