U.S. Representatives Announce 2018 Congressional App Challenge Winners
WASHINGTON, DC – Today hundreds of U.S. Representatives will announce the winners of their district’s 2018 Congressional App Challenge. In all, 222 Members of Congress inspired students to pursue computer science in the 4th annual competition, the largest student computer science competition in America. Over the last four months, thousands of students coded original apps as part of district-wide competitions. We applaud all the student contestants for their accomplishments as well as the Representatives who are taking the lead in Congress on this important issue.
The Congressional App Challenge aims to engage students in coding and computer science. All of the competitions are local and span 46 states and U.S. territories — in rural and urban districts alike. Congressional participation reached new horizons this year, including districts in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Wyoming. Participating Members came from both sides of the aisle in near equal numbers, a testament to the bipartisan support for computer science and STEM in Congress.
The winners for the reporting districts are listed on the website via the button below (Note: Additional winners may be announced at a later date).
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to view the announcements of winners from each Member of Congress. And look for the hashtag #Congress4CS.
“This year, the Congressional App Challenge inspired a record 5,200 student participants. We’ve made notable inroads in rural America and with underrepresented minorities and young women” said Rachel Decoste, Director of the Challenge. “This has been a banner year thanks the leaders in Congress who hosted a Challenge — especially Representatives French Hill and Suzan Delbene, the 2018 co-chairs. But this would not be possible without private sector support from our sponsors, partners, judges and the dedicated educators who worked hand-in-hand with the Members in this amazing effort.” Students created over 1,700 original apps, a 35% growth in number of apps from last year’s Challenge.
The Congressional App Challenge sheds light on students’ creativity and imagination. This year’s crop of student-created computer programs are unique and purposeful. From apps that prevent car accidents to apps that help students study more efficiently, a variety of ideas were shown through different artistic styles and coding languages. The Congressional App Challenge will invite winners from across the country to showcase their apps to the Members of Congress and members of the tech community at #HouseOfCode, a reception on Capitol Hill to be held in Spring 2019. Their work is eligible to be featured for one year on the permanent display in the U.S. Capitol Building and on the House.gov website. Each winning student will also be awarded $250 in Amazon Web Service credits, generously donated by Amazon Web Services’ AWS Educate program.
About the Congressional App Challenge
The CAC is an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Members of Congress host contests 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 non-profit Internet Education Foundation provides the CAC with supplemental staffing and support. In the four three years of the Congressional App Challenge, the program has yielded 830 App Challenges across 44 states. Thousands of functional apps have been created by over 14,000 students, and participant demographics surpass all industry diversity metrics.
The 2018 Congressional App Challenge is possible thanks to the generous support of our sponsors: Capital One, Microsoft, Democracy Fund, Verizon Foundation, Amazon Web Services, Southwest Airlines, the United Parcel Service, BSA (Business Software Alliance) Foundation, and Synchrony (SYF). The Challenge also owes gratitude to Representatives Bob Goodlatte and Anna G. Eshoo, co-chairs of the Congressional Internet Caucus, who requested and supported the creation of the CAC. Additionally, thank you to Representatives French Hill and Suzan DelBene for serving as 2018 App Challenge Co-chairs.
