Congressional App Challenge
Each fall, a nation-wide middle and high school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)—competition is sponsored by the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Congressional App Challenge is an opportunity to recognize and encourage the STEM talent across the nation, as well as in our Congressional District. Each participating Member of Congress will name a winner to represent their district.
The Congressional App Challenge is open to all middle and high school students in our District. The winning app of our district's competition 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.
Winners of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge
1st Place: MAZAH - Fighting food waste one meal at a time by Noga Gercsak and Ishika Meel
2nd Place: ClearSkin AI - Personal Dermatology Assistant by Michael Lu, Evan Kim, Rohin Patel, and Vansh Setia
3rd Place: BrightBite - Dental Health Companion by Tuan Nguyen
The following is a summary of the Congressional App Challenge rules:
Eligibility Criteria:
- AGE: Students must be in middle school or high school on October 24th, 2024.
- 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.
More information regarding the 2026 Congressional App Challenge:
- Summer 2026 – The Congressional App Challenge officially launches.
- Students become eligible to register and may begin submitting their applications.
- October 26, 2026 – Student Application Deadline
- All student applications must be submitted by 12:00 PM ET.
- October 28, 2026 – Judging Begins
- Congressional offices may begin reviewing and judging student applications.
- November 23, 2026 – Judging Deadline
- All judging must be completed, and offices must enter their winning submission into the CAC Review Portal. Winners may be publicly announced once they have been entered into the portal.
- December 8–14, 2026 – Computer Science Education Week
- This is an ideal time for offices to announce their Congressional App Challenge winners.
- December 31, 2026 – Winner Notification Deadline
- Offices must announce their winners and notify all applicants of their application status by this date.
- January 15, 2027 – National Winners Announcement
The Congressional App Challenge will announce the National Winners.
Submit/Register here for the 2026 Congressional App Challenge.
If you would like more information on the annual Congressional App Challenge, or to register and submit, please click here.