Challenge Submission
Submission of models and results for the BabyLM Challenge tracks, requiring a HuggingFace model link and results assembled via the evaluation pipeline script.
NLP/CORE Unranked
BabyLM 2026
EMNLP 2026 Workshop: BabyLM
BabyLM 2026 is a shared task and workshop co-located with EMNLP 2026 that focuses on sample-efficient language model pretraining using developmentally plausible, human-scale data budgets. It aims to democratize LM research by enabling university-scale experiments and advancing cognitive modeling through constrained training environments inspired by child language acquisition.
Key deadlines
Verified September 9, 2026Full paper
August 3, 2026
AoE
Workshop timeline
Submission and decisions
Full paperKey deadline
August 3, 2026 · AoE
Paper fit
Contribution paths
A strong submission should clearly identify its contribution and evaluate it appropriately.
Workshop Paper
Paper submissions (4-8 pages using CoNLL template) with a hyperparameter form, for non-challenge research related to sample-efficient pretraining.
ARR Commitment
Commitment of papers already submitted to ACL Rolling Review with reviews, to be considered for the BabyLM workshop.
Research areas in scope
01
Challenge Tracks
Strict (100M-word detoxified dataset)Strict-Small (10M-word detoxified dataset)MultiLingual (based on BabyBabelLM, focusing on English, Dutch, and Chinese)
Policies worth checking twice
- Submissions must use the official evaluation pipeline for challenge entries.
- Challenge entries are limited to 10 epochs over training data; workshop-only papers are exempt.
- Multimodal and Interaction tracks are no longer standalone; paired image-text data and teacher-model feedback are permitted within Strict/Strict-Small tracks.
- Workshop papers must follow the CoNLL template with 4-8 pages and include a hyperparameter form.
- Challenge submissions must be made via the Challenge OpenReview portal; workshop papers via the Workshop portal; ARR submissions via the ARR portal.
- Dual submission to other venues is allowed only if committed via ARR with prior reviews.
Official sources
Compiled from the official call for papers. The organizers’ pages remain authoritative.
Last verified September 9, 2026