GENIUS Coding challenges students to use programming, software development, and computational thinking to build software solutions for environmental problems. Projects can be web, desktop, or mobile apps, simulations, games, data visualization tools, robotic software, educational software, or any other software that addresses the annual theme; the 2027 application topic is Extreme Heat & Wildfires. Students may use any programming language, and AI-assisted development is allowed when explained in the video and presentation.
Students work alone or in teams of up to two. The application project (GitHub repository plus a project video) is used to select finalists. At the finals, held as part of GENIUS Olympiad hosted by St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York, teams take part in a 24-hour in-person Final Hackathon on a newly announced topic. All project-specific work must be created during the hackathon, and teams may not communicate with anyone outside their team. Final awards are based on the hackathon project and a short presentation to a panel of judges.