Apple’s Swift Student Challenge 2024: Dates, Eligibility, Rewards And More

Apple Swift Student Challenge 2024: Apple is back with its contest to encourage the next generation of budding creators, developers, and entrepreneurs through its Apple Swift Student Challenge.

This challenge offers an opportunity to thousands of students to exhibit their coding capabilities and creativity through app playgrounds. It is an opportunity for students to develop real-world skills to get a leg-up in their careers.

“We encourage you to brainstorm and develop thoughtful ideas for apps that address important issues in your community and beyond,” Apple stated.

The applications are open for candidates until February 25.

• Applicants must be 13 years of age or older in the US or equivalent age in a relevant jurisdiction. Applications from employed professional developers will not be accepted.

• Candidates can register as an Apple developer or member of the Apple Developer Program on the website.

• Candidates must fulfill one of these requirements:

• Be enrolled in an accredited academic institution or official homeschool equivalent;

• Be enrolled in a STEM organisation’s educational curriculum.

• Be enrolled in an Apple Developer Academy; or

• Have graduated from high school or equivalent within the past six months and awaiting acceptance or received acceptance to an accredited academic institution.

• An applicant can win this award four times.

Submission Eligibility:

• Candidates must submit the app playground (.swiftpm) in a ZIP file and all content should be in English language.

• The work should not be dependent on a specific network or resource to use the app playground. Submissions can be up to 25 MB and will be judged offline.

• Submitted work must be an individual effort, but may include third-party open-source licensed code and/or public domain images and sounds, with credit and an explanation of why it was used.

• The app playground must be built with and run on Swift Playgrounds 4.4 or later (requires iPadOS 16 or macOS 13.5, or later) or Xcode 15 on macOS 13.5, or later. Candidates may incorporate the use of Apple Pencil.

“We’re continually impressed by the outstanding submissions we receive for the Swift Student Challenge. For the 2024 Challenge, we’re recognising applicants who take their app playground concepts, design, and execution to the next level — with a next-level award,” said Apple.

Apple will pick 50 distinguished app developers from the overall 350 winners selected based on their innovation, creativity, social impact, or inclusivity. These 50 lucky winners will get an entry pass to the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.

These 50 next-generation developers will be invited for an in-person meeting during the summer for three days at Apple in Cupertino.

During this three-day visit, the developers will gain valuable insights from Apple engineers and experts. They can connect and network with peers through exciting activities for engaging experiences. Travel and lodging will be included, said the company.

“All challenge winners will receive one year of membership in the Apple Developer Program, a complimentary voucher to take an App Development with Swift certification exam, and a special gift from Apple,” an Apple release stated.