Congressional App Challenge
What is the Congressional App Challenge?
The Congressional App Challenge (CAC) is a public effort to encourage kids to learn how to code, through annual district-wide competitions hosted by Members of Congress for their district.
Students in participating districts code original applications for the chance to be selected for recognition by their Member of Congress, win prizes, and have their work put on display in the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The district-wide competitions take place from June through early November. The CAC is executed by the Congressional staff of each participating district and coordinated by the Congressional Internet Caucus and the non-governmental sponsor of the project, the Internet Education Foundation.
Mission
The Congressional App Challenge's mission is to inspire, include, and innovate efforts around STEM, coding, and computer science education:
- Inspire: To inspire students from every corner of the country to explore STEM, coding and computer science through hands-on practice;
- Include: To actively include and engage students from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the tech community; and
- Innovate: To innovate policymaking by connecting Members of Congress to new and emerging technologies through personal interactions with their student constituents.
A Brief History of the CAC
In 2013 leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and at the Internet Education Foundation sought to foster an appreciation for computer science and STEM. That year House leadership brought to the floor and overwhelmingly passed House Resolution 77 – Academic Competition Resolution of 2013, 411 votes to 3. Representative Candice Miller, the Chairwoman of the Committee on House Administration and principal sponsor of the bill, spoke on the House floor about the need to inspire students to pursue careers in computer science (YouTube video).
Through House Resolution 77, the U.S. House of Representatives outlined the plans by which Representatives would host district-by-district computer science, or "app," competitions every year for students. In October of 2015 the Committee on House Administration unanimously passed the rules and regulations allowing each Representative to host an "Officially-Sanctioned" computer science competition in their districts. The rules for "Officially-Sanctioned Competitions" are now ensconced in the Members' Congressional Handbook.
The rules require that the bipartisan chairs of the Congressional Internet Caucus officially request a new officially-sanctioned "app" competition every Congress. The chairs also request that the Internet Education Foundation serve as the official outside "sponsor" of the competition. The Committee then grants the request in a letter and the Congressional App Challenge begins.
Important information for students:
The 2023 Congressional App Challenge launched on June 15th, 2023 - students can register here.
Deadline for students to register and submit their apps is November 1, 2023.
If you would like additional information, please reach out to Destinee Vargas at Destinee.Vargas@mail.house.gov in our Austin, TX office at 512-473-2357.
Learn how to Code: You can find resources to learn how to code here.
Student Guidelines: You can find rules on the app challenge here.