A global competition that brings the best together

DragonByte 2025 wasn’t just about solving problems, it was about bringing together some of the brightest minds in competitive programming and making memories that will last.

This year, 1,300 engineers signed up for the challenge, representing a strong international community. The biggest groups came from the UK (222), Poland (126), Germany (99), Italy (80), Slovakia (79), France (57), the Netherlands (53), the USA (51), Hungary (51), and the Czech Republic (50), along with dozens of participants from Spain, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and beyond.

From this group, 266 engineers qualified during the July online round, and each received a custom high-quality DragonByte T-shirt designed especially for this edition. Finally, 20 engineers were invited to Bratislava to battle it out in the Onsite Finals.

The challenges were designed by Misof, a name well known in the CodeForces community, together with a dedicated team of 10 volunteers who helped bring the competition to life.

The Finals Weekend in Bratislava

The finalists gathered in Bratislava on Friday evening for a welcome dinner. For many, it felt like a reunion since most knew each other from past competitions and had even met at ICPC World Finals just a week earlier. Over dinner, conversations flowed easily, setting the tone for an unforgettable weekend.

Saturday morning kicked off with registrations at 9am. Participants settled in, snapped selfies, and chose funniest coding quotes. Among the most popular:

• “Friends don’t let friends code in Java”
  
• “Brute force is my baseline”
  
• “TLE is my cardio”
  
• “Happiness = Accepted in one submission” (2nd place)
  
• “I’m here for FUN.” (1st place)

You can see photos of participants on our Instagram channel at @wincent_co.

At 9:45am, the challenge was introduced, and by 10:00 the 3h30min countdown began. The room turned silent as everyone locked in, focused, and chasing that Accepted. By 14:00, it was time for a quick lunch and some board games before the big celebration.

That evening, everyone gathered at a local restaurant for the awards ceremony. The excitement was palpable as the winners were announced:

• Champion (€10,000): Kevin (ksun48)
  
• Runner-up (€5,000): Andrew (ecnerwala)
  
• Third place (€2,500): Dilhan (dnialh)

Applause, cheers, and laughter filled the room, and the celebration carried on at a bar late into the night.

On Sunday, the group explored Bratislava with tour guides who shared stories of the city’s history. After lunch, we visited the UFO tower, where the panoramic views left everyone speechless. It was the perfect ending to a weekend that mixed competition, culture, and camaraderie.

The feedback from participants was just as rewarding as the event itself. On average, they rated:

• Organization: 9.6/10
  
• Venue: 9.5/10
  
• Food & restaurants: 9.0/10
  
• Overall recommendation score: 9.4/10

Most importantly, every single participant said they’d love to join DragonByte again next year.

DragonByte isn’t just about coding, it’s about friendship, community, and pushing each other to new heights. To relive the finals, you can browse the full scoreboard, or dive into the contest archive with problem statements, solution writeups, and test data.

We’ve also shared the photos and highlights on our Instagram profile @wincent_co.

As we said our goodbyes, there was one common feeling, already looking forward to the next DragonByte.

See you in DragonByte 2026.