Ahead of WWDC 2024 kicking off in June, Apple has officially announced its Swift Student Challenge winners. 350 students from around the world have won with 50 selected as “Distinguished Winners” that will be heading to Apple Park for WWDC. Along with that, Apple is celebrating 3 winners with detailed profiles about their top-tier app ideas.
Apple shared the details in a Newsroom post this morning:
Apple’s annual Swift Student Challenge recognizes the best in student coding, and this year, it has added a new category to its ranks. Out of 350 winning submissions, 50 students have been named Distinguished Winners for building app playgrounds that stand out for their innovation, creativity, social impact, or inclusivity. These 50 students have been invited to a three-day in-person experience at Apple Park that includes tailored programming and the special event at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where they’ll join like-minded creators from all over the world.
Apple says the winners come from over 35 countries and regions and “many of their app playgrounds were sparked by something personal, such as helping people in their community or a favorite hobby.”
Best Swift Student Challenge apps
- Care Capsule by Elena Galluzzo (inspired by her grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease)
- Galluzzo designed Care Capsule to be an all-in-one assistant for elderly people. She used Apple’s machine learning framework Create ML to build a chatbot that analyzes interactions with the user to deduce whether they are experiencing loneliness or depression. The app also lets users track their medications, connect with community resources, and keep a record of positive memories.
- MTB XTREME by Dezmond Blair (inspired by mountain biking with his brother and supportive parents)
- “After growing up in a trailer park, it became really important for me to make sure that I was keeping up on all my grades because my parents told me when I was young, ‘You’re definitely not ending up like we were,’” says Blair. “They spent a lot of their life trying to make sure that I wouldn’t have to struggle the same way they did, and so that’s where my inspiration and my passion comes from.”
- My Child by Jawaher Shaman (inspired by having a stutter and working through it)
- My Child tells Shaman’s story through the eyes of a child who stutters, and features characters inspired by her father and grandfather. The app guides users through exercises that help slow down their breathing and prepare them for real-life experiences like reading a story in class. Shaman used AVFAudio to add sounds that mimic the way her father would break sentences into small, more manageable parts.
- “My father never made me feel different, and I hope my app will do the same for any child or young person who suffers from stuttering,” says Shaman. “I don’t want them to ever feel like stuttering is a hurdle they can’t overcome.”
Check out the full stories of these Distinguished Winners on the Apple Newsroom post along with this AppStories podcast episode for more on the Swift Student Challenge.
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