Apple has recently announced an interesting change in the schedule of its famous Swift Student Challenge. For the first time, the company has decided to give advance notice to students interested in participating, allowing them enough time to prepare for the challenge, which will take place in February 2024.
350 winners and 50 honorable mentions
The Swift Student Challenge is a competition that urges students to develop a coding project using the Swift Playgrounds app. This year, the challenge will recognize 350 winners and feature a special category that will distinguish 50 outstanding winners for their exceptional proposals. These Distinguished Winners will receive an invitation to visit Apple Park, where they will have the opportunity to connect with their peers and the Apple team. Additionally, all winners will receive a free one-year membership in the Apple Developer program.
Susan Prescott, Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations and Education and Enterprise Marketing, expressed the company’s commitment to programming education: “At Apple, we believe everyone can learn to code and create apps. We are proud to support and recognize aspiring student developers with the Swift Student Challenge every year.”
Apple has been holding the Swift Student Challenge annually for several years, but it typically used to be announced alongside the dates of the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), and the winners were invited to attend the conference. However, this year, Apple has communicated that the 50 Distinguished Winners will be invited to Cupertino “next summer,” coinciding with the dates of WWDC, but without providing further details.
Starting in February 2024, students will have three weeks to submit their application “playgrounds” to Apple. These will be evaluated based on their technical achievements, creativity of ideas, and the content of written responses explaining the project.
It’s an interesting change in the Swift Student Challenge schedule. It’s too early to tell if it will have any impact on this year’s WWDC. But we can’t rule out the possibility either. In the meantime, we’ll be keeping an eye on the 350 projects that come out of this competition.
