4-H UAV/Drone Contests

TWo Competition Options For 2026

Statewide Competition March 14, 2024

Hold the date (Saturday, March 14, 2026) for the Indiana Statewide UAV/Drone Competition.  Registration opens in November, 2025 (under "Events" on 4-H Online) for the third-annual 4-H UAV/Drone contest! Or, you can go directly to the registration page, at: (TBD) . 

Contact Bill Decker, Discovery Programs Educator, with any questions: wdecker@purdue.edu

Southern Regional Competition (Not Required For Registration In The Statewide Competition)

Hold the date (Saturday, February 21, 2026) for the first annual Southern Indiana Regional UAV/Drone Competition.  More details on registration to come.

Both competitions will have two divisions:  Junior (grades 5-7) and Senior (grades 8-12).

 

Statewide Competition:

  • Saturday, March 14, 10:00 AM
  • Madison County 4-H Fairgrounds, (Alexandria, IN)

 

 

 

Optional Southern Regional Competition:

  • Saturday, February 21, 2026
  • Bartholomew County Fairgrounds (Columbus, IN)

 

Picture of 4-H Member flying an obstacle with a drone.
4-H Member Flying Obstacle

 CONTEST SPECIFICS

 

The competitions will consist of three challenge areas using the standard “CoDrone EDU” uav/drone:

Challenge #1: 

Participants will be timed as they are given 2 chances to fly through a fixed obstacle course.  Scoring will be based upon time and obstacle penalties.

Challenge #2:

4-H members will take a 10-question quiz (grades 5-7) based on the FAA “Trust” test.  Students in grades 8-12 will take a 10-question test based on the FAA Part 107 UAV test.  Specifically, the Senior test will focus on aviation map skills. Please see suggested pages and video segments in "Resources."  

Challenge #3:

Competitors will be given a 10-question, multiple choice, drone programming test.  Junior competitors will be expected to match the correct Blockly code with the requested movement.  Senior competitors will be expected to match python code to the requested task.  Contestants are encouraged to take part in the training materials below.

more info

All 4-H members will receive 4 “extra-credit” points for presenting a copy of their free FAA “TRUST” certificate at check-in (on the day of competition).  In the case of a tie, a timed obstacle flight will serve as the tiebreaker.

After members sign-up for the event, they will be placed on an email chain, providing information on free programming applications, the free TRUST test, and other free competition resources along with specifics on programming and flight expectations.