Hello, Codeforces community,

We’re thrilled to share that the SPOI (Shortest Path to IOI) Mentorship Program is returning for 2026! This is a student-led initiative created for Indian school students who are preparing for ZCO, INOI, and IOITC, and it's completely free.

Here’s what you can look forward to:

• Curated practice problem sets aligned with INOI-level preparation.

• Mock contests for ZCO and INOI to practise on.

• A community where you can discuss ideas, contests, and questions.

The main change from last year is that we will not be taking lectures and will focus more on mocks and practice.

Our stats speak for themselves. In INOI 2025:

• Gold Medallists: 9/11 were from SPOI
• Silver Medallists: 15/19 were from SPOI
• Bronze Medallists: 21/30 were from SPOI
• Training Camp: 28/34 people selected were from SPOI

Moreover, 2 of the IOI-2024 medallists were from SPOI as well. You are reading the blog of one ;)

Although this program is primarily aimed at students eligible for the Indian Computing Olympiads, we will consider other applicants on a case-by-case basis, with participants from other countries' Informatics Olympiads having a higher chance of getting accepted. For more information on the eligibility for the Indian Computing Olympiads, click here.

If you're interested in joining, please check out our website here.

Our team of mentors includes multiple IOI medallists and IOI campers.

We look forward to helping you achieve your programming goals!

Warm regards,
The SPOI Mentorship Team

Founders: Samik Goyal unforgettablepl, Oviyan Gandhi oviyan_gandhi, Avighna Chhatrapati avighnakc

Hello Codeforces community!

As some of you might already know, UFDS has been discontinued. My friends and I were quite dejected to hear this, so we decided (after getting permission) to create something similar but disjoint.

We are excited to announce the SPOI (Shortest Path to IOI) Mentorship Program for 2025, which is aimed at Indian school students preparing for the ZCO, INOI, and IOITC. This program is completely free, and we strive to establish its reputation as the premier initiative to help aspiring IOITC qualifiers.

Our program offers:

• Regular lectures on competitive programming topics.
• Practice problems after these lectures, along with carefully curated problem sets.
• A structured syllabus that goes hand-in-hand with INOI.

Most importantly, by joining the program, you will get access to ZCO and INOI mocks for practice.

Although this program is primarily aimed at students eligible for the Indian Computing Olympiads, we will consider other applicants on a case-by-case basis, with participants from other countries' Informatics Olympiads having a higher chance of getting accepted. For more information on the eligibility for the Indian Computing Olympiads, click here.

If you're interested in joining, please fill out this form.

Our team of enthusiastic mentors (many of whom were also UFDS mentors) includes multiple IOI medallists and IOI campers.

We look forward to helping you achieve your programming goals!

Regards,
The SPOI Mentorship Program Team

Founders: Samik Goyal (unforgettablepl), Oviyan Gandhi (oviyan_gandhi), Avighna Chhatrapati (avighnakc)

Mentors: Dominater069, Everule, blue, PoPularPlusPlus, astoria, competitive__programmer, accord, evenvalue, hariaakash646, saarang, rm1729