The Congressional App Challenge (CAC) is a nation-wide competition designed to engage student creativity and promote their participation in computer science and coding. Established by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, this 14-week competition allows students to create and submit their own app for the opportunity to receive nationwide recognition. Students may participate as individuals or in teams of up to four. Winners of CAC will have their apps featured on a display in the Capitol Building, and will be honored by Representative Royce.

The Congressional App Challenge allows middle and high school students to compete with their district peers by creating and exhibiting their software application (also known as an “app”), for web, PC, tablet, raspberry Pi, mobile, or other platform of their choice. We accept app written in any programming language, for example: C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, "block code", etc.). Starting now, you can register at www.congressionalappchallenge.us. Please submit your app anytime between now and October 15th, 2018. Representative Royce will announce winners at a showcase December.

Highlights from the 2017 Congressional App Challenge:

On Monday December 2, 2017, Representative Ed Royce announced the winners of his district’s Congressional App Challenge: Darien Tsai, Eric Siu, and Kalvin Chang from Glen A. Wilson High School of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District.  

The winning students created Aftermath, a mobile application designed to help middle and high school students study math more effectively in order to boost test scores. 

Winners of this year’s Congressional App Challenge were announced during the competition's Exhibit and Awards Ceremony held Monday night at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. 

In total, 138 teams—comprised of 407 students from 17 schools—competed in this year’s competition making it one of the largest in the country. 

“It is our duty to empower our children to succeed as adults. In a world where our economy is more technology-based every day, this means ensuring that our students receive a top-notch education that stresses STEM subjects, including computer science, so that they are prepared to enter these fields,” said Rep. Royce. “Competitions like this highlight the importance of skills like computer science and inspire students to use technology to address current issues facing our society in innovative ways.”

Students and parents who attended the award ceremony had the opportunity to hear from tech industry leaders during a panel discussion on STEM education. Panel members (pictured below) included Gillian Hayes, professor in Informatics at UC Irvine; Nithin Jilla, Executive Director of Dreams for Schools; and Mark Viloria, Product Manager at Procore Technologies.

A panel of independent judges determined the winning team of the competition that featured mobile applications created by students from California’s 39th Congressional District. Judging was based on factors such as quality of the application’s operations, implementation of the application’s concept, and demonstrated excellence of coding and programming skills.

The winning student developers from Glen A. Wilson High School will have Aftermath displayed in the United States Capitol alongside winning submissions from around the nation. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PICTURES FROM THIS YEAR'S COMPETITION!

The full list of winners from the 2017 competition is copied below:

Resources for Students and Teachers:

Code.org
36 Resources To Help You Teach Kids Programming
CodeAcademy.COM self-taught courses in HTML/CSS, Python, Ruby, and PHP
MIT App Inventor tutorial to develop mobile apps on Android phones.
Scratch a simple visual programming language
Alice is used to create 3D animations

Development Kits

Apple iOS Developer Program
Android- Develop for Android
Windows Apps

Highlights from the 2016 Congressional App Challenge:

Rep. Royce was selected as the national Co-Chair of the Congressional App Challenge for 2016. The 2016 Challenge for California's 39th Congressional District took place from July 18, 2016, to November 2, 2016.

The 2016 Congressional App Challenge first place winners were: Christopher Jhaveri, Christopher Leung, Jason Kwan, and Santiago Torres of the La Puente Valley Regional Occupational Program at Los Altos High School. The winning students created Election Connection, a mobile application designed to educate voters on candidates' political positions.

Click on the video below to watch the creators of Election Connection discuss their winning App as it was displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building alongside winning submissions from around the country. 

Rep. Royce made his announcement during the competition's Exhibit and Awards Ceremony at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

Second place was awarded to Troy High School's Neil Prajapati for his app "AntiStipulator" and Ayala High School's Noah Allen, Justin Harsono, Jeffrey Hsu, and Ramakrishna Senthil for their app "TuteeMe."

Third place was awarded to Los Altos High School's Aum Brahmbhatt, Tiffany Liao, and Breeze Hernandez for their app "BrainTrain."

"I enthusiastically chaired the Congressional App Challenge this year because its mission aligns with my priorities: promoting STEM education in our schools and encouraging students to pursue technology-related interests. Congratulations to Los Altos High School and all of the participating teams. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of the talented competitors," said Rep. Royce.

"As national Co-Chair of the Congressional App Challenge, Congressman Royce has led the charge in promoting STEM and computer coding education in our schools. Over 2100 students creating 650 apps participated in this year's Challenge, a 20% jump from last year," said Melissa Medina, Congressional Affairs Director for the Congressional App Challenge.