Congressional App Challenge

Applications for the 2025 Congressional App Challenge are now OPEN. Apply HERE and learn more below.

What is the Congressional App Challenge? Each fall, a nationwide 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 STEM talent across the nation, as well as in New Hampshire. Each participating Member of Congress will name a winner to represent their district.

Who is eligible? The Congressional App Challenge is open to all middle and high school students in New Hampshire’s First District. The winning app of our district’s competition is eligible to be featured in the U.S. Capitol, the winner will receive a Copyright Fee Waiver provided through the ARTS Act, their app could be featured on the Congressional App Challenge webpage, and they will receive an invitation to attend a winner’s celebration inside the U.S. Capitol called #HouseOfCode.

Deadline to submit? October 30th, 2025 at 5:00 pm

The following is a summary of the Congressional App Challenge rules:

Eligibility Criteria:

• AGE: Students must be in middle school or high school in October 2025.
• LOCATION: Only students who live in or attend school in New Hampshire’s First District are allowed to compete in the App Challenge for our office. 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 the teammates on any team must live or attend school in New Hampshire’s First 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 are 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.