Congressional App Challenge
The Congressional App Challenge is a is an academic competition to promote innovation in STEM. The Challenge aims to encourage middle & high school students to learn how to code by creating their own applications/coded projects. There is a keynote conference in Washington, D.C., hosted in the Capitol Visitor Center. Winners will be invited to the conference and have their app displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year.
ANY APP. ANY PLATFORM. ANY CODING LANGUAGE.
There are no limits to what you can create. Whether you're solving a real world problem or building something just for fun, you can code your app in any language, for any platform, using any tools you like. Examples of eligible apps include:
- Desktop applications
- Wearable tech apps
- Web-based tools or platforms
- Programmed robotics projects
- Chatbots or voice assistants
- Games with coded logic
To be eligible to participate in the Congressional App Challenge, you must:
- Age: Students must be in middle or high school at the time of app submission.
- Location: Students must either reside or attend school in the 2nd Congressional District of Wisconsin.
- If competing as a team: max four members, with at least two of the teammates must be eligible to compete within the district in which they are submitting.
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 2026 Congressional App Challenge will be accepted until 12:00 pm EDT Monday, October 26th, 2026.
More information and the full rulebook can be found here. Any additional questions can be directed to Kahlil.Kaldhusdal@mail.house.gov.