Congressional App Challenge
Representative Rick Crawford is excited to announce the Congressional App Competition. High school students who live in or are eligible to enroll in high schools located in the First District can participate in the competition by developing or designing an Application on a platform of their choice. (You can check to see if you live, or your high school is located, in the First Congressional District here)
- Complete Rules and Regulations
Click here to read the complete list of rules and regulations
- Submitting Your App
All apps must be submitted at https://www.congressionalappchallenge.us/students/student-registration/
Each entry must include a link to your Application Demonstration Video (which can be created via YouTube or VIMEO) to explain and outline your application. Please note that your entry will be judged in its entirety based on this video. It is important to demonstrate the scope and quality of your application in this video.
Participants have the choice of creating a fully-functioning application OR designing a detailed mock-up of an application concept. Both options can be submitted through the Application Demonstration Video.
Please read the official competition Rules and Regulations here.
- FAQs
What is the contest?
The Congressional STEM Competition was authorized by H.Res 77 to encourage student participation in STEM fields. Initially the competition will be in the field of computer science. Participating students in the district will develop an app on a platform of their choice. The Member will appoint judges to evaluate the apps and select winners.
Who can participate?
High school students who live in or are eligible to enroll in high schools located in the district can participate.
Can homeschooled students participate?
Yes, any student who lives in or is eligible to attend high school in the district can compete.
How will winners be recognized?
The overall winner from each district will be featured on House.gov. There will be a display in the Capitol to honor all of the district winners.
Can students submit in teams?
Yes, the maximum team size is four students, two of whom must reside in or be eligible to attend high school in the district.
How are apps judged?
Apps are scored by the idea, implementation, and impact.
2024 Winners
The NEA Career Tech Center team, consisting of Lilly Yocum, Liberty Bell, Aydan Elmore, and Victor Osorio, under the guidance of instructor Chase Smith created the Sprout app to help students track their required community service hours for high school graduation. It also allows nonprofits to post their available volunteer opportunities for students. Sprout connects our community by highlighting needs and finding folks to fill those needs.
Congressman Crawford’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge winners from NEACTC.
Pictured from left to right; Liberty Bell, Lilly Yocum, Congressman Rick Crawford, Aydan Elmore, Victor Osorio, and instructor, Chase Smith.
Previous Congressional App Challenge Winners
2023 Winners
Students entering the competition must submit their app’s source code online as well as provide a YouTube or VIMEO video demo explaining their app and what they learned through this competition process.
The 2023 Congressional App Challenge’s winning team is Ebony Jade Robertson and Kyle Lu, seniors at Cabot High School, under the instruction of Kayla Britton, with their app, Arkansas Biking. The students created the app to provide everyone with virtual access to the Arkansas River Trail. The students stated in their application, “We wanted to create an app that would encourage users to visit the Arkansas River Trail and appreciate the wonders of our Natural State.”
Ebony Jade is the daughter of Jerry and Sharon Young and Kyle is the son of Hazel and Neil Lu.
First place winners pictured left to right; instructor, Kayla Britton; team members,
Kyle Lu, Ebony Jade Robertson, and Congressman Rick Crawford
2022 Winner
The 2022 winner is William Rownd, a 10th grader at Cabot High School. William created his app titled Rx Adviser during his free time outside of a classroom setting. Rx Adviser is a medication reminder app using revolutionary technology that allows for ease of use along with drug-to-drug interaction warnings. He developed this app with two audiences in mind: the growing population of senior citizens and others who take numerous medications on a regular basis and have an increased risk of drug interaction. It was built using JavaScript and the react native framework for iOS visual studio code. You can watch his Rx Adviser demonstration video here.
If you would like to view the videos from all the national winners of the Congressional App Challenge, click here.