The German Physics Olympiad - identifying and inspiring talents

Student competitions can act as potent enrichment measures and complement formal schooling in fostering students' motivation as well as promoting their skills. This article presents the German Physics Olympiad, the national precursor to the International Physics Olympiad, in the general context of student competitions in Germany and its integration with the so called Science Olympiads in Germany. To put the German Physics Olympiad into an international context its structure and some of its features are compared with data on Physics Olympiads in other countries. As an outlook we elaborate on some of the challenges the Physics Olympiad in Germany is facing and present two research projects that further support the development of the competition.