How to Apply

Registration is a single online form. You do not need a finished idea. Most applicants arrive with a rough question and refine it during orientation and the first weeks with a mentor. Anyone who meets the age rule and submits a complete form, including guardian consent where required, is accepted. We do not score applications.

Questions before you apply Deadlines

Eligibility

Age

12 to 18 on 1 September 2026. Junior Division is 12–15; Senior Division is 16–18. If you turn 12 before that date you may apply; if you are 18 on that date and turn 19 during the season you remain eligible. Age is the only hard academic rule. Home-schooled students, gap-year students and students between schools are welcome.

School endorsement

Not required. We recommend telling a teacher, because they are often the best local mentor you already have, but LBX does not need a stamp from the school.

Region

Choose one hub: Singapore, Hong Kong, London or New York. Most people pick the hub nearest where they study. Cross-hub teams pick one hub and all members travel to that showcase.

Documents

Have these ready before you open the form. Scans or clear photos are enough; we do not need notarised copies.

• Full legal name as it should appear on a certificate, plus a preferred name if different.
• Date of birth and a page of a passport, national ID or school ID that shows the date of birth.
• School name and city, or a short note that you are home-educated.
• Contact email that you actually read, plus a parent or guardian email for every applicant under 18.
• Track preference (you may change once, free, before the proposal checkpoint).
• A 200-word note on the problem you want to work on, or on what you find interesting if you do not have a problem yet.
• Optional: a few lines on things you have already built or written, used only for mentor matching.
• For teams: every member’s details on one form, submitted by a named team lead.

Guardian consent for minors

Anyone under 18 on 1 September 2026 needs a parent or legal guardian to complete the consent section. The guardian confirms: contact details; permission to take part in online mentor sessions and in the in-person showcase; permission (or refusal) to be photographed on the public day; and that they have read the privacy notice and terms. For applicants under 16, the guardian also names an adult who will be on site at the showcase. Consent can be withdrawn by writing to apply@lbx.org; withdrawal before the proposal checkpoint triggers a full refund.

We do not accept a teacher’s signature in place of a guardian’s, except where a court or social-work letter names the school as the student’s legal carer. In that case, write to apply@lbx.org before submitting.

Fees and waivers

USD 90 per individual. USD 150 flat for a team of two to four. The fee covers mentor matching, checkpoints, orientation and a place at the regional showcase. Full and partial waivers are available: tick the box and attach a short note from a teacher, counsellor or community leader. No one is turned away for inability to pay. Global Final travel grants are a separate form after invitation.

Deadlines

The form opens 15 September 2026 and closes 31 October 2026. Confirmation follows within five working days, then an orientation invitation. You may withdraw for a full refund until the proposal checkpoint. After that the fee is non-refundable but the place can transfer to a teammate or a future season.

Walking through the form without panic

The form is long because consent is long, not because we are selecting you. There is no scored essay. The 200-word note is for matching. If you do not have a problem yet, write the domain you cannot stop thinking about and one thing you have already tried at home. Do not hire someone to polish that paragraph. Mentors can smell a paragraph that was written for an adult.

Names: use the name you want on a certificate. If your passport name is different, put both. Teams submit one form with every member listed; do not send four forms and hope we merge them. Under-eighteen applicants will block submit until the guardian section is complete. Under-sixteen applicants will also block until a named adult is listed for the showcase. That adult does not have to be the legal guardian, but the guardian must name them.

Payment can wait a few days after the rest of the form if you are applying for a waiver. Tick the waiver box first so the system does not send you a reminder that looks like a rejection. Waiver notes from a teacher can be a short email attached as a PDF. We do not need tax documents. We do not publish who received a waiver.

After you submit, watch the inbox you typed, including the spam folder, for five working days. The confirmation mail contains the orientation link and the hub address for later questions. If nothing arrives, write to apply@lbx.org with the name and date of birth you used — do not open a second form.

If the form feels like too much

It is too much on a phone on a bus. Sit down with a guardian, a passport page, and forty-five minutes. Fill the identity block first, then the hub, then the 200 words, then consent. Payment last. If you stall on the 200 words, write them in the language you think in and, if needed, add an English version underneath. Hong Kong accepts Mandarin; other hubs want English for the note because mentors are matched in English there.

A team lead who waits for every member’s passport scan until 30 October will miss the close. Collect scans in a shared folder in September. A guardian who is travelling can complete consent from another country; the form is online. A school that wants to “just send a list” cannot: lists do not capture consent. We will send them back to the form.