NZYPT 2026 concluded on 21st March with St. Cuthbert’s College Year 12 Team taking out top honours.
The 2027 Tournament will start in August with the publication of the 7 problems for the 2027 Tournament in New Zealand.
Making the most of the research problems
Participation in the Tournament reinforces NCEA level 3 achievement standard 91521.
The problems can be used as material for science clubs and examination projects so long as their IYPT origin is acknowledged/referenced. These are both ways to extend research time for students and avoids the time pressures of doing everything in term one.
TEACHERS wishing to enter teams for the 2027 New Zealand Young Physicist Tournament can register their interest here. This adds you to our mailing list but does not commit you to entering the tournament. Further instructions and updates about the tournament will be published on this site and emailed to those teachers and students who have registered their interests or who participated last year. This information will include venues, payment due dates, etc..
What happens at Tournament?
Physics matches!!
If you start your research when problems are announced for the next tournament – so August 2026 for the 2027 Tournament – you have about six month sto investigate them experimentally. You bring all that knowledge to Tournament to present then debate it in a physics match. These are structured debates that you can read all about here
Consider a two year engagement
Our students are face an additional challenge in the International Tournament because it’s schedule follows the Northern hemisphere’s academic year. In New Zealand there is big gap in the experimentation time between July to January each year, when first external exams and then holidays rightly take priority for students.
We have identified a participation pattern that many of the strongest rep team members have inadvertently followed. As a result we are encourage this two year participation process, especially for students with ambitions to represent New Zealand overseas.
The 2027 Tournament will schedule the workshop in August 2026 to support revision of practical papers and launch the seven 2027 problems for New Zealand.