Natplus Contest: !exclusive!

Welcome to the most relentless, beautiful, and brutal academic contest you have never heard of.

As of this writing, the 2026 NatPlus National Finals are two weeks away. The official website has posted a single, cryptic line: "This year, the answer is not a number. And you will not write it down."

Today, the keyword "natplus" is sometimes used colloquially or as a brand-specific term for contests centered on "natural" health, fitness, or organic lifestyles. Examples of similar contemporary contests include: natplus contest

One thing is certain: 400 brilliant, terrified, sleep-deprived students will walk into that hall. They will sit in perfect silence. They will face the Variable.

And one of them will walk out with the Voss Medal, forever changed—not because they knew the most answers, but because they learned that the hardest problems don't have answers. Welcome to the most relentless, beautiful, and brutal

In 2015, a printing error occurred. The Day Two booklets for Section B (seats 112–145) contained a completely different set of problems—problems that, by all accounts, were impossible. One question allegedly asked: "Prove or disprove the existence of a finite number that is its own successor, using only the axioms of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory and a haiku about entropy."

The contest grew from a local pilot program in three Illinois high schools to a national phenomenon. By 2023, over 45,000 students registered for the preliminary rounds. Only 400 make it to Nationals. Only one wins the Voss Medal. And you will not write it down

Every enduring contest has its myth, and NatPlus has the .

Registration for next year's preliminaries opens September 1. The first problem is already online. It involves a chessboard, a train schedule, and a single line of Latin. Good luck. You’ll need it.

If you are looking for current opportunities under the "Natplus" or natural living umbrella, follow these general guidelines:

Instead of cancelling the round, Dr. Voss made a controversial decision. She let those students keep the Dark Packet. They could choose: attempt the impossible for triple points, or request a standard replacement with a 30-minute penalty.