Congressional App Challenge
Every year, we challenge students in our district to create and submit their original apps for a chance to win the Congressional App Challenge (CAC). Each challenge is district-specific. As U.S. Representatives, we publicly recognize our winning teams and each winning app may be put on display in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year. Additional prizes may be available. The Congressional Internet Caucus initiates the annual CAC.
To be eligible to participate in the Congressional App Challenge, you must:
- Be a middle or high school student at the time of app submission.
- Students may register as individuals or as teams of up to four. No more than four students are allowed to form a team.
- Students may compete in the district they reside in or the district they attend school in.
- If competing as a team, at least half of the teammates must be eligible to compete in the district in which they are participating in.
- All competing students must be U.S. residents at the time of submission. There is no citizen requirement for students.
- Students can use any programming language (C, C++, JavasScript, Python, Ruby, “block code, etc.)
DEMONSTRATION VIDEO (max 3 min)
Students must create a demonstration video with the following information:
- The name(s) of each participant
- The name of the app
- Clearly explain the purpose of the app (Students should do this in one, clear sentence)
- Explain the app’s target audience (who the app is intended for?)
- The tools and coding languages used to create the app
- Show how the app works
The video should be 1-3 minutes long. Video submissions which do not adhere to the time constraints may be penalized by the judges at their discretion. This is not a video-creation competition. However, the judges view the demonstration video to learn about the app. The video should be as clear and compelling as possible.
Upload the completed video to YouTube, Vimeo, or any other video-hosting site. The video must be set to “public”.
Submitted Questions
In addition to the demonstration video, the team will need to answer a series of questions similar to the following:
- What is the title of your app?
- Explain the app’s purpose in one sentence.
- Short Description: What inspired you to create this app?
- Short Description: What is your app trying to accomplish?
- What technical/coding difficulty did you face in programming your app, and how did you address this technical challenge?
Submissions for the 2025 Congressional App Challenge will be accepted from May 1- October 30:
12:00 pm EDT, Thursday, October 30th, 2025
More information can be found here. Any additional questions can be directed to Pocan.staff@mail.house.gov.