In 2017, Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “Coding should be a requirement in every public school.” In 2014, the company launched Swift programming language and in 2016, Swift Playgrounds appeared to teach basic coding in Swift. Apple is taking everything a notch higher. Months after announcing the Swift Student Challenge and the new Everyone Can Code Projects, applications for the Challenge are now live for three weeks.

Since 2020, students participating in the challenge have joined a worldwide community of developers using Swift to create new groundbreaking apps. The next challenge is a new category recognising 50 Distinguished Winners, who will be named for standout submissions.

To be eligible, one of the criteria is to be 13 years of age or older in the US, or the equivalent minimum age in the relevant jurisdiction (for example, 16 years of age in the European Union), besides being registered for free with Apple as an Apple developer or be a member of the Apple Developer Programme. Also, one has to be accredited academic institution or official homeschool equivalent or be enrolled in a STEM organisation’s educational curriculum or be enrolled in an Apple Developer Academy or have graduated from high school or equivalent within the past six months and be awaiting acceptance or have received acceptance to an accredited academic institution.

If you visit the Apple website, you can go through the instructions on how students can build their app playground that can be experienced in three minutes, focused on a topic of their choice.

What’s new this year? Out of 350 winners, Apple will recognise 50 Distinguished Winners and invite them to Apple in Cupertino. All Challenge winners will receive one year of membership in the Apple Developer Programme, a complimentary voucher to take an App Development with Swift certification exam, and a special gift from Apple.