Students first attempt the Zonal Informatics Olympiad (ZIO), which is a written paper.
Alternatively, students can attempt the Zonal Computing Olympiad (ZCO), an online programming contest.
Based on the results of these competitions, about 30 students are selected for the International Olympiad in Informatics Training Camp, at which students are selected and trained to represent India at the International Olympiad in Informatics.
The top students in the Indian Computing Olympiad receive several incentives for admission to undergraduate institutions in both India and abroad.
A list of some of the incentives in India is as follows: Notable alumni (medals at IOI) include Akshat Bubna, Harpreet Singh, Malvika Raj Joshi, Keshav Dhandhania, Kshitij Bansal, Srijon Mukherjee, Adhiraj Somani, Adhyyan Sekhsaria, Akashnil Dutta, Anish Shankar, Rajat De, Raziman Valapu, Amartya Biswas, Sampriti Panda, Srivatsan Balakrishnan, Ajay Ravindran, Archit Karandikar, Arindam Saha, Arjun Pitchanathan, Arnold Noronha, Indraneel Mukherjee, Ishan Behoora, Kushagra Juneja, Nadeem Moidu, Nihal Pednekar, Nikhil Tadigoppula, Pradeep Mathias, Prashant Vasudevan, Prateek Karandikar, Preyas Popat, Rajarshi Basu, Shreevatsa Rajagopalan, Siddharth Krishna, Sidhant Bansal, Swarnendu Datta, Swarun Kumar, and Tanay Kothari.