The CyberFirst Girls competition is an annual contest where teams of four Year 9 girls team up to tackle challenges like cryptography, logic and artificial intelligence for the chance to be crowned cyber security champions.
Every girl from the winning teams will take home a brand-new laptop home, and have a chance to win prize money for their school. No previous cyber or tech knowledge is needed to enter the competition, with no limit to teams per school.
In more exciting news, this year for the first time CyberFirst will be hosting a celebratory event for all the girls in Northern Ireland who take part in the competition which is set to take place during Cyber NI week. As well as being open to girls in Year 9 in Northern Ireland, the Girls Competition 2024/25 is also open to girls in year 8 in England and Wales and S2 in Scotland.
CyberFirst Girls has received a record-breaking number of entries from Northern Ireland this year, with limited time left to enter. The record-breaking entries to date is thought to be at least partially due to the success of the EmPower Girls event which was held in Windsor Park Stadium in June earlier this year.
WATCH NOW: CyberFirst EmPower Girls Event takes place in National Football Stadium at Windsor Park
CyberFirst’s first EmPower Girls event saw 12 schools attend an immersive experience aimed at inspiring and encouraging a career pathway into the burgeoning world of technology and cyber security in Northern Ireland. The event, in which 250 Year Eight pupils attend the showstopping surroundings of the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park in partnership with Aflac NI for the day, saw leading representatives from 37 companies across the province engage and interact with female pupils in a series of highly engaging breakout sessions. It is set to return in 2025 for an even bigger event with additional CyberFirst schools in attendance.
The 2024 CyberFirst Girls competition is being held in partnership with the National Cyber Security Centre in a bid to encourage more young girls to consider a career in cyber security. It is particularly important for teachers and guardians to encourage their pupils and children to get involved, as stark statistics reveal women currently make up just 17 per cent of the tech industry.
READ MORE: Victoria Logan on holding the first ever CyberFirst EmPower Girls event at Windsor Park Stadium
Evidence has shown that getting young pupils interested in technology from a young age is key, as well as highlighting the different career pathways and specialist areas within the field and how to access them.
Rose Templeton first head about CyberFirst through a CyberFirst Girls Competition and now works as a Cyber Security Consultant at Nihon Cyber Defence.
Rose encourages more young girls to get involved, telling Sync NI: "I first heard about CyberFirst through the Girls’ Competition in 2017. That experience introduced me to the world of cyber security, as well as the CyberFirst Bursary scheme which I joined in 2022. The scheme's financial support of my degree studies, along with the opportunity to intern each summer, helped me gain valuable experience and the skills needed to build a career in cyber security. Today, I work as a Cyber Security Consultant for Nihon Cyber Defence in Belfast. It’s a role I thoroughly enjoy and one that has been made possible through my time as a CyberFirst Bursary student.
More details
The CyberFirst Girls competition is now open for registration and will commence on Monday 18 November at midday.
Once the competition has opened pupils will have 10 days to answer as many of the challenges within their team as possible.
The competition will close on the Wednesday 27 November at midday. Teams can be made up of a maximum of four girls, but can be smaller if preferred.
The highest scoring team in each region/home countries across the UK will win laptops and an invite to a celebratory event early next year so get your minds together, solve challenges and most importantly, Have Fun!
Teachers, parents and guardians can find out more information as well as enter the inspiring competition here: Girls Competition.
Read Sync NI's free online Big Data Belfast autumn magazine here.
