One team designed an app to help teens manage stress and depression. Another developed a virtual cadaver that students could dissect to learn about anatomy, while a third came up with an  app to help a blind classmate navigate the halls of their middle school.

These are among the winning ideas that middle and high school students dreamed up in the Verizon Innovative App Challenge, a five-year-old competition sponsored by the Verizon Foundation in partnership with the Technology Student Association.

The contest, which awards a $20,000 grand prize to eight “Best in Nation” schools, asks teams to apply their STEM knowledge and submit an idea for a mobile technology application that can be used to solve a societal or community problem. One team of middle-school students and one team of high-school students from every state and the District of Columbia (provided there are qualifying entries) will win $5,000 for their schools, groups or clubs, and tablets for every team member.

Absolutely no coding or app-building experience is necessary – just creativity and communication skills to come up with a novel app idea! MIT App Inventor Master Trainers then teach the teams coding and app development using MIT App Inventor, and work with winning teams to turn their concepts into downloadable apps.

More than 24,000 students have participated in the app challenge since its inception. Submissions have come from a wide variety of disciplines, including the humanities and language arts, and from a broad array of schools.

REGISTER TEAMS by NOVEMBER 18, 2016

See FAQ for details on signing up, developing winning concept, and more.

Filed under: Competitions and Contests, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features

Tags: coding, Competitions for Students, Contest, Technology Student Association, Verizon Innovative App Challenge