The national coding competition concluded its eighth edition with a historic first, more than €10,000 in prizes and plans to bring its community together throughout the year.

For the second year running, MeetInc is the official media partner of CodeSprintMT, as the 2026 edition brought Malta’s coding community together for its eighth edition, with students and professionals competing across Secondary, Post-Secondary and Open categories. Organised by the Directorate for STEM and VET Programmes within the Ministry for Education & Sport, in collaboration with ICE Campus, CodeSprintMT gives participants a chance to show what they can do under pressure. Away from familiar lessons and everyday projects, competitors put their coding skills, judgement and problem-solving to work against the clock. Around them, educators, judges, industry representatives and families form part of an experience that brings Malta’s technical talent into view.

“CodeSprintMT started as a single event for students at secondary school level. Today, it is a platform where learning becomes social, talent becomes visible and potential becomes an opportunity,” said Josmar Borg, Founder of CodeSprintMT and Education Officer (Computing) within the Directorate for STEM and VET Programmes.

This year’s edition also saw familiar faces return with more to achieve. Matthew Fenech successfully defended his Secondary title, becoming the first competitor to win the Secondary category two years running. Alexander Micallef rose from seventh in Secondary last year to first in Post-Secondary. Nathan Mizzi, whose 2023 win as an undergraduate helped open the door to a career at MeDirect, returned as a working professional to keep challenging himself, finishing second in the Open Competition.

Meet the 2026 winners:

Secondary Competition – powered by Malta Digital Innovation Authority

1. Matthew Fenech (Maria Regina College, Zokrija Secondary)
2. Valerio Pirillo (Sir Adrian Dingli Secondary School)
3. Ziyan Wu (St Clare College, Pembroke Secondary)

Post-Secondary Competition – powered by Malta Digital Innovation Authority

1. Alexander Micallef (St Aloysius College Sixth Form)
2. Andrew Malani (Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School)
3. Kian Schranz (St Aloysius College Sixth Form)

Open Competition – powered by MeDirect Bank Malta

1. Hugo Angelöw (Technical Engineering Manager – FDJ UNITED)
2. Nathan Mizzi (Senior Data Integrations Engineer – MeDirect)
3. Matthew Bonnici (Developer – Machete)

Explore the full results and finalists in the CodeSprintMT 2026 Hall of Fame.

Building skills Malta needs

CodeSprintMT began in 2018 with 24 secondary school students. It has since grown into a national platform spanning different stages of education and professional life, giving people who love coding a place to challenge themselves and meet others who share that interest. 

This year’s prize programme exceeded €10,000, including cash prizes, learning vouchers and technology vouchers. Alongside those rewards comes the experience of working through an unfamiliar challenge, making decisions under pressure and discovering where there is still room to grow. For younger participants, competing alongside a wider professional community also makes the possibilities ahead more tangible. An interest developed in the classroom becomes something they can share with peers, educators and people already building careers in technology.

Malta’s leading organisations, behind the community

This year’s edition was backed by CodeSprintMT’s a broad community of partners. Malta Digital Innovation Authority and MeDirect Bank Malta led as title sponsors, powering the Secondary and Post-Secondary competitions and the Open competition respectively. They were joined by community sponsors PwC Malta, Melita, Xjenza Malta, Microsoft Malta and Knights College, experience sponsors J’Oli and Bolt, and supporting sponsors Computime, edQuanta, 9H Digital and MITA. Media partners Lovin Malta, Meet Inc., and Times of Malta helped amplify the impact across the islands. Their support helped strengthen the competition, prize programme and wider participant experience, while bringing government, education and industry together around a shared investment in Malta’s technical talent.

Looking ahead to CodeSprintMT 2027

With the eighth edition complete, attention is already turning to 2027. The ambition is not simply to make CodeSprintMT bigger, but to keep raising the standard, create more opportunities around the competition and give even more people a reason to be part of it.

So whether you are a student wondering if you are ready, a professional looking for a fresh challenge, a parent encouraging a young coder or an organisation that wants to back Malta’s technical community, consider this your early invitation. Be part of CodeSprintMT 2027