Warn.live wins Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s 26th District.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart has named Dallas Szittai of Gulf Coast High School as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Florida’s 26th District. Their app Warn.live is a fully functional web application that helps people stay informed and safe during severe weather.
When asked what inspired the creation of Warn.live, Dallas Szittai said, “I’ve always been fascinated by weather and how quickly conditions can change. I noticed that severe weather warnings often go unnoticed until it’s too late, and that inspired me to create a tool that could make a real difference. I wanted to give people a clear, immediate way to see weather threats and act on them—something more interactive and reliable than simply reading an alert or dismissing it quickly. Warn.live was born from that idea: a live radar map paired with real-time warnings and notifications that anyone can access instantly, helping people stay informed and safe no matter where they are.”
The 2025 Congressional App Challenge marked another record-setting year for the program. A total of 394 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives hosted App Challenges in their congressional districts, the highest level of participation in the program’s history. More than 13,800 students from across the country participated, submitting over 4,600 original apps focused on real-world challenges ranging from health and accessibility to education, sustainability, and civic engagement.
The Congressional App Challenge is an official initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives that encourages middle school and high school students to learn to code, explore computer science, and build practical technology solutions for their communities. Each participating Member of Congress selects a winning app from their district, and winning teams are invited to showcase their projects to Members of Congress, staff, and industry leaders at the annual #HouseOfCode celebration on Capitol Hill.
The Challenge is proudly bipartisan and reflects a shared commitment to expanding access to STEM education and preparing the next generation of American innovators for the future workforce. The program is a public-private partnership made possible through funding from the Broadcom Foundation, AWS, Infosys Foundation USA, theCoderSchool, Apple, and others.
The 2026 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.