Congressional App Challenge

The Congressional App Challenge is an opportunity for middle and high school students to participate in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) competition designed to build computer science and coding skills. Officially launched by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015, this nationwide effort allows students to create an application (also known as an “app”) for desktop/PC, web, tablet, mobile, raspberry Pi or other devices. The winning app will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol, a Copyright Fee Waiver provided through the ARTS Act, their app featured on the Congressional App Challenge webpage, and an invitation to attend a winner's celebration inside the U.S. Capitol called #HouseOfCode. The winning artwork is also featured on House.gov's Congressional App Challenge page.

The Congressional App Challenge is open to all middle and high school students in Delaware.

The following is a summary of the Congressional App Challenge rules. THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT YOUR APP IS OCTOBER 30, 2025. For more information, or to register and submit your app, please visit the Congressional App Challenge's official website.

Eligibility Criteria:

• AGE: Students must be in middle or high school by the time the competition ends on October 30th, 2025.
• LOCATION: Students are only allowed to compete in a Congressional District which is hosting an App Challenge. Students may compete in either the district in which they reside, or the district in which they attend school. Participants may compete only in one single district. There is no citizenship requirement, but all students competing in the Congressional App Challenge must be U.S. residents.
• TEAMS: Students can compete as individuals, or in teams of up to four (4) students.
  • ○ Any team with more than four (4) students is not eligible to compete.
  • ○ At least half of teammates on any team must live or attend school in the
    same Congressional District.
• PRIOR PROJECTS: Students may submit any app they've created after the previous year's contest
• ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PER YEAR: Students may only submit ONE app per
  year. Multiple entries across multiple teams is not allowed.

App Parameters:

• TOPIC: The app can be about any topic.
• PLATFORM: The app can be on any platform (web app, desktop/PC app, a web
  browser extension, robot, Ruby on Rails, mobile, etc).
• PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE: Use any programming language: C/C++, Objective C, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, Swift, "block code", etc.
• FUNCTIONALITY: The app must have some degree of functionality to be competitive.
• ORIGINALITY: The app must be original and solely owned by the Contestant such that no other party has any rights or interest, whether known or unknown.