GCHQ Christmas Challenge
Work your way through previous GCHQ Christmas Challenges and see if you can complete them all.
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2025 Christmas Challenge
The 2025 GCHQ Christmas Challenge came with a proper twist! We tasked schoolchildren up and down the UK to design the front cover of the card and hide their own codes for bonus puzzling alongside the seven brainteasers set by Chief Puzzler Colin and his puzzle team
Over 500 schoolchildren took part in a competition to design the cover of Director GCHQ’s Christmas card which every year is sent across the world. Director GCHQ Anne Keast-Butler and Colin, GCHQ’s Chief Puzzler chose three winning designs from different age groups.
Students were asked ‘What do you think GCHQ looks like on Christmas Day?’ with the additional quest of including hidden codes, puzzles, as well as calling on their creativity and imagination.
Alongside the schoolchildren’s designs, GCHQ’s in-house puzzlers have created a brand-new set of seven puzzles designed to test a range of problem-solving skills, including intuitive reasoning and creativity for the back of the card.
