Before your
first degree
For people who have not completed their first degree, including school students, undergraduates and hobbyists without a completed degree.
Enter Strand A →Stage two · The competition
The competition.
The competition recognises explanations that increase human understanding of a result and its proof. The difficulty or sophistication of the mathematics is not the criterion. Entries may be papers or videos of at most ten minutes.
Entry deadline: 30 November 2026. Competition entries must explain a proof already in the Open Problems in Numerical Linear Algebra repository. Submit a paper or a video of at most ten minutes using the contribution page. The library welcomes contributors outside the prize strands, but follows the same proof scope. Propose additional problems or solutions through a pull request to the original repository.
Panel and prizes
Judges
- Matthew Colbrook
- George Stepaniants
- Françoise Tisseur
- Alex Townsend
Prizes
Prize recipients will be named authors of a curated write-up presenting the explanations judged to best advance human understanding of the proofs. They will also receive a certificate and a cash prize. The authors will approve the public text and attribution before publication.
Who can take part?
Before your
Graduate students
& postdocs
For graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at academic institutions.
Enter Strand B →Outside those groups? You are still welcome.
The proof library is open to everyone. That includes degree-holding hobbyists, independent researchers and academics outside Strand B. Library participation is not restricted to the prize round.
Contribute to the library →The entry
What an entry should explain
A readable paper
State the audience and prerequisites. Give the theorem, the key ideas and enough detail to follow the proof. Relevant history, applications and worked examples are welcome. Cite the first proof in the original repository and make your own explanatory contribution clear.
A clear, self-contained explanation matters more than a particular page count.
A short video
At most 10 minutes in total, including opening and closing material. Use readable notation, explain the transitions, and choose context or worked examples that help the viewer understand. Supply a plain-text transcript so reviewers can follow the argument without downloading anything.
A video and a paper are alternative formats, not separate prize strands.
Judging
How entries will be assessed
The panel will ask whether the entry makes the ideas and proof easier for its intended audience to understand. It will consider the accuracy of the statement and argument, clarity of the explanation, and how well any historical context, attribution, applications or worked examples serve that purpose. A difficult theorem has no automatic advantage over a simpler one. A changed theorem or missing essential step cannot be made up for by presentation.
Authorship and attribution
The people who create the digest are its authors and receive primary credit for the explanation, both in the library and in the prize write-up. Cite the first proof in the original repository and credit its mathematical authors. Also credit collaborators and any reused code or illustrations. Tell us how AI was used; the entrant remains responsible for the explanation. Lean verification is welcome, but it does not replace a readable account.
Younger contributors
For a contributor under 18, a parent or guardian should handle correspondence. Do not send a birth date, home address, identity document or school details. A public name or pseudonym can be discussed before publication.
Publication in the library
Accepted paper and video entries receive public pages in the library, with a DOI for an archived version of the explanation. Video entries include a transcript. Authors approve the public text, credit and archival deposit before publication. The library remains open beyond the competition deadline. Questions about mixed teams and individual prize eligibility can be sent to the organisers before submitting.