About the APL Forge
A proof of concept. A weekend or two of work. A £2,500 prize.
Build with APL. Build for APL.
The APL Forge is an annual competition open to individuals, teams, and companies. The brief is simple: build something useful with – or for – APL, and submit it. Winners receive £2,500, an expenses-paid trip to present their work at a Dyalog user meeting, and a year’s commercial licence.
You don’t need to be an APL expert to enter. A previous winner had been writing APL for less than a year.
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For submissions written primarily in APL:
- Libraries — tools that solve a problem or add capability, even in a niche area. They don’t need commercial potential; expanding what APL can do is enough.
- Applications and tools — solutions to problems people care about, at any level of polish. A working proof of concept is a valid entry.
- Modules — plug-ins or add-ons that extend existing APL libraries or applications.
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– for APL
For submissions that improve or promote the APL experience but aren’t written primarily in APL:
- Tools or plugins that connect APL to other platforms, languages, or services
- Websites that organise or surface APL-related information
- Media — books, video series, podcasts, tutorials
What are the prizes?
- £2,500
- An expenses-paid trip to present your work at a Dyalog user meeting
- A Dyalog commercial licence, valid for one year
- Support from the Dyalog team to help develop your submission further, if you’d like it
All you need to enter is a free Dyalog licence. If you’re just getting started, we have tutorials, samples, and a community help channel (the APL Orchard) where experienced APLers are happy to answer questions. We’re also available directly – drop us a line at forge@dyalog.com and we’ll point you in the right direction.
One of our 2026 winners discovered APL just months before entering. You could too.