Congressional App Challenge

The Congressional App Challenge is an opportunity to recognize and encourage the STEM talent across the nation, as well as in California's 29th Congressional District.

The Congressional App Challenge is open to all middle and high school students who live in and go to school in CA-29. 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.

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 25th, 2025.
  • LOCATION: Contestants must live in CA-29 and attend a school in CA-29. 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.

If you would like more information on the annual Congressional App Challenge, or to register and submit, please click here.