Best in State team prizes: One middle school team and one high school team from each state and the District of Columbia with eligible team submissions are chosen as the Best in State winners. Each Best in State team will receive:
A $5,000 award to enhance STEM education at their school or sponsoring organization
An Android mobile tablet for each team member
Teams are also eligible for consideration as a Best in Region winner and eligible to enter the app challenge Fan Favorite contest. Best in Region team prizes Best in State winning teams compete to be chosen as one of 24 Best in Region teams. Best in Region teams have the opportunity to present their app concept to a panel of judges during an online webinar, which serves as the basis for choosing the Best in Nation winners.
Best in Nation and Fan Favorite team prizes Four top middle school teams and four top high school teams from the group of Best in Region winners will be named Best in Nation winners. Also, one of the Best in State teams will be named the Fan Favorite through public voting. In addition to the prizes they’ve already won at the state level, each Best in Nation team, and the one Fan Favorite team, will receive:
A $15,000 award to assist the team in building a working mobile app from their winning design, to enhance STEM education at their school or sponsoring organization, and to cover the travel expenses of the faculty advisor’s attendance at the National Technology Student Association (TSA) Conference in Orlando, Florida, in June 2017.
In-person and virtual training and support from the MIT App Inventor Group to assist the team in building and publishing their mobile app.
An all-expenses-paid trip to the 2017 National TSA Conference in Orlando, Florida, for each team member and a parent/guardian.
The award money may be used to:
Support teams as they build their app concepts for the Android platform and bring them to the marketplace.
Further STEM education at their school or sponsoring organization by enhancing existing STEM educational programming, introducing new STEM education programs, supporting co-curriculum STEM activities for students, or providing STEM-related professional development for educators. Funds may not be used to purchase technology hardware or software. The Verizon Foundation does not gift products or services to schools or sponsoring organizations.
Note that winning teams will be required to document how their funds are spent.