Community · Contests & Challenges

Capability is proven, not claimed.

Certificates say you studied. Contest results say you can deliver. Apply your competencies against real briefs and compete on merit.

In our community

Life at A Factor

Real moments from our cohorts — workshops, brand visits, hackathons, fireside chats.

Cohort weekend — Mumbai campus

Brand visit — Boat HQ

Pitch Night — Bengaluru, final-week portfolio reviews

Workshop — Storyboarding with Schbang

Founder fireside — Mamaearth

Portfolio reviews

Cohort lunch

Career Day — Mumbai

Why contests, not exams

Structured around the competencies that define the role.

A Factor contests are not academic exercises. They are structured around the same competency domains that define the Competency Model and the same kinds of briefs that practitioners face in professional work.

You register, receive a brief, deliver professional-grade work, and get evaluated by peers and experts against defined competency criteria. The destination is not a grade, but a validation of applied capability.

See the Competency Model →

The outcome is portfolio proof.

Every contest submission becomes a documented demonstration of what you can do under realistic constraints. That is the kind of evidence that hiring managers and clients actually respect.

Top performers receive recognition; every participant receives structured feedback against the competency criteria the brief was designed to test. Either way, you leave with something you can use.

Portfolio proof Peer + expert review Competency-aligned

Active challenges

Pick a challenge that matches your level.

Every challenge tests real capability — there are no trick questions, only real problems that need real solutions.

Intermediate

The performance marketing sprint

A real campaign brief with budget constraints, audience parameters, and business objectives. Build a full campaign architecture — channel selection, audience segmentation, bidding strategy, and projected performance.

Paid media Deadline: rolling

Advanced

Content strategy challenge: brand repositioning

A mid-size brand needs to reposition its content strategy for a new audience segment. You have the current analytics, guidelines, and three weeks. Deliver a strategy document, calendar, and governance framework.

Strategy 3-week window

Foundation

SEO foundations audit

A live website with known technical issues and underperforming content. Conduct a structured technical audit, identify the highest-impact opportunities, and deliver a prioritised action plan.

Technical SEO Deadline: rolling

Past winners

Top performers from recent challenges.

The professionals whose submissions set the bar in the last round of contests. Their work is referenced as exemplar material in subsequent briefs.

Amit T.

Performance Sprint · 1st

Sarah J.

Content Challenge · 1st

David K.

SEO Audit · 1st

Priya R.

Performance Sprint · 2nd

How it works

Every contest follows a structured process.

Designed to mirror professional work — not academic coursework. Each stage is timed, scoped, and scored against the same competency criteria.

Register

Choose a challenge that matches your competency level and development goals. Registration is open to all A Factor community members.

Receive the brief

Every challenge is built around a realistic brief — the kind of problem a practitioner faces in actual professional work. No artificial exercises.

Submit your work

Deliver your solution within the deadline. Submissions are structured to mirror professional deliverables — campaign architectures, strategy documents, technical audits — not academic essays.

Peer + expert evaluation

Submissions are evaluated by a combination of peer review and expert assessment. Evaluation criteria map directly to competency domains.

Recognition

Top performers receive recognition, portfolio-worthy results, and visibility within the A Factor community. Every participant receives feedback.

Recognition that means something

Beyond the challenge.

Contest participation builds two things that matter more than another line on your CV: portfolio proof and professional reputation. Every submission you make becomes a documented piece of work — a campaign architecture, a strategy document, a technical audit — that demonstrates what you can do under realistic constraints.

See live events →

Portfolio-grade evidence

This is the kind of evidence that stands up to scrutiny in hiring processes and client conversations. It is not a certificate. It is a deliverable.

Deliverable

Community visibility

Top performers gain visibility within the A Factor community, and contest results are referenced alongside programme completions as evidence of applied capability.

Visibility

Structured feedback

Every participant receives competency-aligned feedback — not a grade, but a structured read on where the work was strong and where it was thin.

Feedback

Connection to programmes

Looking for structured development before entering a challenge? Explore the Programme Catalogue to build capability systematically.

Pathway

Prove what you can do

Beyond the challenge.

Every contest is structured around the competencies that define the role. Top performers from recent challenges have been hired directly by partner brands.

Prove what you can do.

Pick a challenge, receive a brief, and deliver professional-grade work. Your capability speaks louder than any certificate.

Enter the next challenge →