Introduction. In the modern educational area in Russia, the role of the Olympiad movement as a driver for the development of creative competencies of schoolchildren is increasing. However, against the background of increasing mass character and popularity of subject olympiads, the problem fields are revealed, among which the need to improve the efficiency of the quality of selection of gifted and talented teenagers stands out, which determines the problem of our study. The purpose of the article is to clarify the organizational and pedagogical conditions that will allow the olympiad movement to make a qualitative leap in its development. We study the conditions associated with the development of olympiad tasks, which are the main core in the practice of implementing substantive intellectual competitions. Research methods. Within the framework of the study, we rely on systematic, activity and cultural approaches, the theoretical framework is the author's pedagogical concept of the implementation of school subject olympiads, where culture is considered in the context of social experience and creative activity. We used the following theoretical methods: analysis of scientific and methodological literature on the topic, categorization, deduction, induction, generalization, modeling. Empirical support is the author’s own experience of training schoolchildren, as well as conversations with school teachers – mentors of olympiads. Results. In the course of the research it was revealed that the quality of Olympiad tasks development can be improved by observing a set of conditions – changeability of the development team, competitive selection of potential task authors, scientific substantiation of task content selection, creation of a unified subject concept of olympiad implementation, accountability of subject commissions, reliance on digital technologies. We also proposed the principles of creating a single concept for foreign languages. Conclusion. The theoretical significance of the study is refracted in increasing pedagogical knowledge on the topic of olympiad movement and highlighting a number of conditions, in the complex implementation of which contribute to increasing the efficiency of the implementation of Olympiad practices. Practical significance can be expressed in the use of the highlighted conditions and principles for the reformation of the domestic Olympiad movement.