International Linguistics Olympiad First-Ever Award: Pragyan Devkota Makes History for Nepal in Romania

5th September 2026, Kathmandu

Nepal has officially made history on the global science olympiad stage. At the 23rd International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) held in Bucharest, Romania, high school student Pragyan Devkota earned an Honourable Mention, marking Nepal’s first-ever award at the prestigious international competition.

Devkota represented Nepal alongside national team members Pratyush Raj Jha, Aayas Shrestha, and Micah Rana. The four-member delegation competed against top young analytical minds from across the globe in both individual and team problem-solving categories.

A Milestone Nearly a Decade in the Making

Nepal’s breakthrough in Bucharest is the culmination of a long-term vision that began in 2017, when Chandan Goopta first introduced the Linguistics Olympiad to the country.

“Breaking through on the international stage at the IOL is the culmination of nearly a decade of dedicated work,” said Goopta, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Himalayan Computational, Linguistic and AI Olympiad in Nepal (HLON). “In the early years, we worked just to establish the platform; this year, our students proved they can compete with the best analytical minds in the world.”

The Team Behind the Triumph

The national team was selected through the multi-stage Himalayan Linguistics Olympiad Nepal (HLON), a nationwide competition open to secondary school students.

Academic Guidance: Dr. Balaram Prasain, who has supported Nepal’s Linguistics Olympiad since its inception.

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Delegation & Logistics: Led by Team Leader Santosh Prasad Sah, who managed technical preparation, student mentorship, and travel logistics.

HLON Co-Founders: Dr. Bal Krishna Bal and Chandan Goopta.

Fueling Nepal’s Future in AI and Computational Linguistics

Beyond international accolades, HLON emphasized that training for linguistics competitions builds critical structural and analytical problem-solving skills. These competencies directly strengthen Nepal’s talent pipeline in Natural Language Processing (NLP), computational linguistics, and artificial intelligence (AI).

The next national cycle will open later this year under the BRAIN Foundation, the governing body overseeing Nepal’s national linguistics and AI olympiad programs.

Key Information & Context

About the IOL

Founded in 2003, the International Linguistics Olympiad is one of the 13 official International Science Olympiads for secondary school students. Contestants solve self-contained puzzles based on diverse world languages using pattern recognition, mathematical logic, and structural reasoning.

For more: International Linguistics Olympiad Award