BookBox wins Rep. Steny Hoyer’s (MD-05) 2020 Congressional App Challenge

Rep. Steny Hoyer has named Tiana Clemons from Henry E. Lackey as the winner of the 2020 Congressional App Challenge in (MD-05).

When asked what inspired the creation of BookBox, the student said, “Every summer, I’ve noticed that libraries are cleaned out of the books that students need to complete the assignment. Yet, home libraries are filled with books that people may only read once. That led me to the idea of an ‘online library’.”

Over 6,500 students registered for the 2020 Congressional App Challenge. These students created and submitted 3,088 functioning apps, marking the end of an extremely successful Congressional App Challenge amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All told, 308 Members of Congress hosted Congressional App Challenges in their districts across 49 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Washington, DC.

The CAC is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host competitions in their districts for middle school and high school students, encouraging them to learn to code and inspiring them to pursue careers in computer science. The Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental support. In the six years of the Congressional App Challenge, thousands of functional apps have been created by over 30,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.