Congressional App Challenge Student Hackathon

Join us for the third annual Congressional App Challenge Hackathon hosted by Congressman David Price (NC-04) and Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01). Students that attend the Hackathon will have the opportunity to meet with mentors, complete an exercise in design thinking, and receive tips from public relations professionals on mastering a "pitch".  Students will have the opportunity to work in teams to start, develop, or complete an app for the challenge. 

Please bring a laptop for the Hackathon. If you would like to participate, but do not have access to a laptop, please email Janssen White in Rep. Price's office at Janssen.White@mail.house.gov.

Lunch and snacks will be provided! 

App Challenge submissions will be judged by a panel of local science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) leaders from industry and academia, and finalists will have the opportunity to pitch their app to a panel of judges at an event in November. All App Challenge participants, parents, teachers, and administrators will be invited to join me at this event, the details of which will be provided to participants upon submission of their app. The winners will also have their work displayed in the Capitol building and will be invited to a reception in Washington, D.C.!

Congressional App Challenge Background

The Congressional App Challenge is designed to promote STEM education by recognizing and incentivizing young talent to create a concept or source code for an online or mobile application (“app”).

Eligibility

• Open to Middle School and High School age students that attend school or live in the Fourth Congressional District or First Congressional District.

• Students are only eligible to compete once they have signed up for the Challenge at CongressionalAppChallenge.us.

• Students may only compete in one district.

• Students may compete as individuals or in teams of up to four.  If competing as a team: at least two of the teammates must be eligible to compete within the district in which they are submitting.

• There is no technical age minimum, but the App Challenge is intended for high school students.  Recent High School graduates are not eligible to compete.

Submission Requirements

Students must submit their apps by noon on October 15, 2018.  The app students create may cover any topic, but they must be original and appropriate.

List of Submission Requirements:

1. Sign-up Form. Students must fill out a sign-up form so their eligibility can be verified on congressionalappchallenge.us.  If students are competing as part of a team, the sign-up form must include the relevant information from each student

2. App Information. Students will be asked to answer a series of questions including: title of the app, the coding language used, what they were trying to accomplish and why, an explanation of a difficulty they faced in programming and how it was overcome, and what improvements the students would make

3. Demonstration Video. Students must create a 1 to no more than 3 minute video, post it on YouTube or Vimeo, and submit the link on the Congressional App Challenge submission form. The video must be set up to public view. Videos that are longer than 3 minutes will be penalized per the judges’ discretion.  Past winners can be found here, as well as their videos for inspiration.

4. Exit Questionnaire. The questionnaire will be emailed to students after final submission.

Judging 

A local panel of judges will decide the winner of the App Challenge, and a reception will be held for all participants on Wednesday, November 7 at NC State's Friday Institute. More information will be provided to students that submit an app. 

Questions?

Contact Janssen White in Congressman Price’s office at

Janssen.White@mail.house.gov or 202-225-1784.