CONGRESSIONAL TOOLKIT

Welcome to the CONGRESSIONAL TOOLKIT.

In the sections below, CONGRESSIONAL STAFF can find RESOURCES, STRATEGIES, TEMPLATES, and INFORMATION to make hosting an App Challenge as easy as possible. The toolkit will provide you with the PROGRAM FUNDAMENTALS: mission, goals, terminology, step-by-step directions for hosting a challenge, fundraising rules, and much more. This includes materials for you to use as your office follows the outlined steps, and the Appendix includes various reference materials, such as the text of the legislation used to create the program.

The Congressional Toolkit is made possible with the support of our generous sponsors:

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Introduction

Why was the Congressional App Challenge created?

In 2013, leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives and at the Internet Education Foundation sought to foster an appreciation for computer science and STEM. And so, through House Resolution 77, they created the Congressional App Challenge to encourage middle and high school students to pursue careers in tech through a nationwide coding challenge.

Every year, Members of Congress challenge students in their districts to create and submit their original apps for a chance to win the Congressional App Challenge (CAC). Each challenge is district-specific. U.S. Representatives publicly recognize their winning teams and each winning app may be put on display in the U.S. Capitol Building for one year.

Why join the Congressional App Challenge?

The Congressional App Challenge is a great way for Members of Congress to positively engage with constituents by showcasing the work of local middle and high school students. As a nonpartisan education initiative with the goal of encouraging students of all backgrounds to pursue a career in computer science, joining the App Challenge would show the Representative’s commitment to their younger constituents.

How to Use this Toolkit

In this toolkit, you will find the information you need to create a successful App Challenge in your district. It covers topics such as the rules and expectations, outreach to students and local organizations, judging the submissions and more.

Note that this toolkit is not exhaustive, and is meant to be used in conjunction with the weekly App Alerts sent out by the CAC.

Rules and Expectations of the App Challenge

Overview of the Rules of the Competition
- Students must be in middle or high school by the time the competition ends on October 24th, 2024.
- Students can participate in teams of up to four:
  - See more under the section Student → Team Eligibility of this toolkit.
- Students must either live or go to school in the registered district they wish to compete in.
- Student submission of their apps are due on October 24th, 2024.
- Apps can be coded on any platform, on any language, on any theme.

Rules for Members of Congress
In October of 2015, the Committee on House Administration passed the rules that govern the execution of the CAC. Please see House Resolution 77 of the 113th Congress (2013-2014) for the full text.

While we emphatically recommend reading the full text of the rules, here’s a summary of several key points:
- The Congressional App Challenge will be operated by an external, non-governmental entity. That entity is the Internet Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
- As this is an officially-sanctioned competition, Congressional Offices may use the following resources to support the CAC as long as they are compliant with the House Ethics Handbook regulations:
  - The Frank
  - Advertisements
  - Food and beverage expenses
  - Rental of rooms, chairs and audio systems
  - Gifts and donations
  - Staff time and the use of incidental resources
  - Use of letterhead and official seal of the House by the Member Office, provided such letterhead and seal are not used for solicitations
  - Mileage
  - The Member official website
- To learn more about about the House Ethics Regulations regarding the Competition, see the section Donations and Ethics → Ethics Waiver of this toolkit.

Expectations for Congressional Offices
- Fill out your District Information Sheet.
- Post on social media and/or community newsletter to advertise the App Challenge on these dates:
- - Registering for the 2024 Congressional App Challenge (Until August 31st)
    
    Launch of the CAC (May 1st).
    
    Beginning of the school year.
    
    National App Challenge Day (September 17th).
    
    The deadline for student submissions (October 24th).
    
    Winner Announcement (Until December 31st).
- Outreach to the local community in your district:
- - Middle school and high school math, science, and robotics teachers can be great tools to recruit more students.
    
    Local chapters of our partner coding organizations, such as Code.org, Black Girls Code, and Girls Who Code.
    
    Libraries and after school programs.
    
    Outreach should preferably be done at the beginning of summer as well as the beginning of the school year, however can be done anytime throughout the academic year to raise awareness.
- Appoint judges to review the applications and determine a winner.
- Submit your chosen winner to the CAC by November 22nd.
- Read the weekly App Alerts and attend the monthly Congressional Check-In Calls for direction from the CAC staff.
- Welcome the #HouseOfCode in the Spring.

Timeline

Preparation Period
The Preparation Period takes place during the Spring and Summer, during which Offices register to host the App Challenge and start the first round of outreach towards students and local organizations.
- February 21st: Congressional Sign-Up Period Begins.
  - Congressional Sign-Up period for the App challenge begins. Fill out the sign-up form and assign your points of contact from your office.
- May 1st: Congressional App Challenge officially launches.
  - Students are eligible to register on this day, and may start submitting their full applications.
- August 31st: Final Day For Offices to Register
- - Let middle and high school teachers know their students’ final projects can be submitted starting in June.
  - Reach out to summer programs to encourage them to let their students know about the Congressional App Challenge in your district.

Application Period
The Application period refers is the time during which students can register and submit their Apps.
- May 1st: Congressional App Challenge officially launches.
  - Students are eligible to register on this day, and may start submitting their full applications.
- October 24th: Student Applications Close.
  - Student apps are due at 12pm EST.

Judging Period
The Judging periods starts when all students have turned in their applications.
- October 28th: First day offices may start judging student applications.
  - While you may look at student submissions before the deadline on October 24th at 12pm (noon) EST, we ask that you refrain from judging until they are all turned in.
- November 22nd: Judging Ends/Deadline for offices to input their winner into the CAC Review Portal. You may announce your winner once it has been inputted into the CAC Review Portal.
- December 9th – 15th: Computer Science Education Week. This is usually a good week to announce your winner.
- December 31st: Deadline to announce your winners, and notify all applicants of their application status.
- January 15th: the CAC will make National Winners Announcement.
  - For more information, see the Winner Announcement Tab below.

#HouseOfCode

Getting Started

Member of Congress Registration
- To register, go to this link and complete the form.
  - The sign-up process itself is very brief. Before you sign up, decide which staffers will be serving as the points of contact (POC).
    The POCs do not have to be an expert in tech or education policy, just someone who can work with students and allies within the district and report back pivotal information.
- District Point of Contact
  - Main point of contact for students, teachers and any other stakeholders in the district.
  - This person should execute community outreach, build relationships with teachers and orgs, promote the CAC and plan relevant events in the district.
  - The District POC should check-in with constituents to ensure that they’ve registered for #HouseOfCode.
  - This person will also receive the most communication from the Congressional App challenge, such as the weekly App Alerts which provide your office with relevant information as to what is happening in the program at the moment.
  - The District POC should be familiar with this toolkit and should also be sure to virtually “attend” the info sessions.
- DC Point of Contact
  - Responsible for attending any DC briefings and reporting necessary information back to relevant staff.
  - In charge of getting approvals for materials the district POC might need. (example: getting a flyer approved from House Franking).
  - Responsible for ensuring that their constituent winner is able to meet with their Member of Congress at the annual #HouseOfCode.
- Communications Lead
  - This person should assist with promoting awareness of your Office’s Challenge: utilizing social media, press, etc..
  - The CAC is an amazing opportunity for positive local press. Since 2015, the IEF has tracked over 1000 local and some national news stories published about the CAC.
  - The comms lead should push the CAC through social media posts, floor speeches, op-eds, and whatever other means your office utilizes.

Announcing the Challenge
There are a few things your Office can do to let your constituents know that you are hosting an App Challenge. These very basic outreach items will help you get the word out early on, and drive up student registrations.
- Social media
  - Post on social media to let your constituents know that you have signed up, and that they can participate.
  - Use your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #Congress4CS.
  - tag @Congressional AC on Twitter and @congressionalappchallenge on Facebook and Instagram.
  - Use outside links for more information, and graphics (such as the ones provided on the Graphics page of the website).
  - Tag sponsors and partner organizations to boost outreach, both local and national if possible.
  - Issue press releases; see next section for more information.
- First round of outreach
  - The first round of outreach should be done shortly after registering to be a part of the App Challenge, or around the official launch date (June 15th).
  - Reach out to schools and summer camps to let them know about the program, the benefits for students as well as important deadlines, so they can let their students know.
  - The next section will cover District Outreach in more detail.

Updating the Member's Website
Updating your official website is a great way to reach out to Constituent, and gives the students a central place to find the information they need regarding how you are going to host your App Challenge.
- Add links to the CAC website with information for students and educators.
- If you decide to add some specifics to your district’s challenge, feel free to add the information there.
- Sample texts available here, and a case study of best practices regarding website updates will be made available soon.
- We highly recommend creating/updating a page on your House.gov webpage dedicated to the CAC, similar to what most offices have created for the Congressional Art Competition.

Outreach

Purpose
- District outreach allows you to recruit more students into the App Challenge, as well as create great opportunities for media coverage.
- Constituents need to know that your office is hosting an App Challenge this year. Be sure to use local media, social media and email for connecting with interested constituents.
- You can find sample Press releases and sample Social Media posts on this Best Practices document.

When
- Outreach to local schools and organizations can be done through the entire competition, from June to November.
- The best times to do the most outreach is when you first register for the App Challenge and/or at the official launch. This allows students and the community to learn about the App Challenge early on and for the word to spread organically.
- Beginning of the school year, around August or September, is also a good time to reach out to schools and teachers, as the new year is getting started and the curriculums are being drafted.
- Finally, the last few weeks are not too late! It serves as a good time to remind students that may have started the Challenge and forgotten that there is still time for them to submit their applications.

Audiences
- Teachers and administrators
  - Visiting schools or programs, especially during the school year, can inspire students to join.
    
    Offices which received a high number of submissions reported that their in-person visits – either by the Member of Congress or a staff member in the district – made a significant difference in the engagement of students and teachers.
  - Notifying local schools and teachers about the district’s Challenge is a critical component of reaching students. You can encourage them to join by letting them know that it is a great opportunity for students for college applications, as well as a great project to incorporate in the curriculum.
  - Our District Information Sheet (DIS) will link you to academic resources in your district. Building the list will benefit your office. Refer to your DIS – Tab 5.
  - We’ve provided a sample Invitation Letter to local schools, detailing how to follow up with the school contacts to increase participation rates, which you can find here and on the Congressional Resources page.
- Inform relevant community organizations
  - Connect with STEM and coding-related organizations in your district.
    
    On the Get involved → Partners page of your website, you can find a list of our national partners. Contacting your local chapters of such organizations can be a great way to find eligible and interested students.
    
    Please utilize our list of partners to see if they have locations in your district.
  - It is important to identify and contact groups who may have summertime classes, county coding clubs, school clubs or after school programs that teach students how to code.
  - We recommend identifying and reaching out to these types of organizations. If you find that you need assistance, please get in touch with us at [email protected] before August 1st.
- Get buy-in from other levels of government
  - Reach out to state, county and local government officials to let them know that your District is hosting a Challenge.
  - Offices should strive to connect with local government officials, especially if there are already local government-sanctioned efforts underway to support computer science education (i.e. an existing club or competition).
  - Aligning the Challenge with those efforts can significantly boost student participation rates.

Press Releases
- Issue a press release announcing you’re hosting a CAC around launch or when you register to all local media, such as newspapers and local TV stations.
- The Congressional App Challenge is tailored to appeal to local TV channels and newspapers. Not only does it highlight the hard work of the students in your district, it’s also fairly non partisan and easy to understand.
  - Local TV stays one of the most trusted source of information for a lot of people.
  - Almost guaranteed positive coverage for your Congressperson, as it shows a commitment to the community and development of the younger constituents.
- Some offices have found the App Challenge to be a great platform to showcase their work on other issues, especially those that are related to STEM and education policies.
You can find more detailed information and ideas on this informative video from Connor Joseph, the Communications Director for Rep. Abigail Spanberger (VA-07). You can also find sample texts here.

Social Media
- Social media is a really efficient way to reach out to students and parents. Once again, posting when you register or when the App Challenge officially launches allows the word to get out early, and posting more about the App Challenge around the beginning of the school year allows for more students to register or be reminded to keep working.
- You can find social media graphics on our Congress → Graphics page here.
- When you post, make sure to tag #Congress4CS and to tag us on the appropriate social media (see below).
  - Facebook → AppChallenge
  - Twitter → @congressionalAC
  - Instagram → Congressional App Challenge
  - LinkedIn → Congressional App Challenge
- Posting on social media is a great way to reach out to more people and showcase the works of the students participating in your App Challenge.
- You can find a more detailed list of social media best practices here.

Newsletter
- Use your newsletter to constituents to let them know that you’re hosting the App Challenge this year.
- It is a great way to reach out to parents, and the information can be kept in the email for the duration of the program, and will act as a great reminder of upcoming deadlines.
- Don’t hesitate to add links to both your website and our website so students and teachers can access all the resources they would need.

Sample Texts

District Information Sheet

User Guide
- District Information Sheets (DIS) contain all the information your district needs to host a successful App Challenge, in addition to this toolkit.
- These are created manually by the CAC and will be shared with you during the course of the summer.
- Each DIS sheet is unique to your district
  - You should never share access to the DIS with anyone who isn’t working on the CAC in your office.
  - It holds information from all past events your district has hosted.
  - Anything you add will be kept for the following year, which is why it can be a great resource if used appropriately.
- It holds 5 tabs
  - Instructions
  - Review Portal
  - Judges
  - Contacts
  - Schools
  - Feel free to add more to your convenience! They will be kept for future reference.
- Read the instructions provided on the first page of the DIS sheet for more information on how to use it, or please check our website.
- If you have any questions regarding your DIS sheet, direct them to [email protected].

Student Submissions

Rules for Student
- Students are only eligible to compete in districts that have signed up for the Challenge.
- Any given student may only compete in one district.
- Students may compete in either:
  - the district in which they reside, or
  - the district in which they attend school.
  - Students must be enrolled in middle or high school on the day of the contest deadline.
    
    Students may not participate if they have graduated from high school prior to the contest deadline.
  - No limits on application theme or topic.
  - Students can use any programming language
    
    (C, C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, etc.)
    
    or “block code.”
  - Students may use any platform
    
    (PC, web, tablet, robot, Raspberry Pi, mobile, etc.)

Team Eligibility
- Students may compete as individuals or in teams of up to four.
  - Teams with five or more students are NOT eligible.
  - If competing as a team: At least two of the teammates must be eligible to compete within the district in which they are submitting.
- The district-related rules for teams are not flexible. Please see examples:
  - If you are in a team of 2, only one of you must be eligible to compete in that district
  - If you are in a team of 3, only two of you must be eligible to compete and the third teammate need not be
  - If you are in a team of 4, at least half of you (so 2) must be eligible to compete in that district.
- Students who do not reside or go to school in a participating district may join a team where at least half of the students are eligible.

Student Submissions
- Students will register and submit their App through the same portal, which you can access here on the Student Page of the website.
- Student submissions can be found in the Review Portal, which you can access through your DIS sheet. Please look at the “Judging -> Where to Find Submissions” section of this toolkit for more information on what to do with the submissions you receive.
- Students have to check their eligibility as they register and, after creating their app, have to submit a video of their app as a final application.
- - The video can be anything they wish. Most students screen-record their application and do a voice-over.
- There is no theme for applications on a national level, however, your office is allowed to set a theme at the district level. IF you wish to do so, make it clear in your outreach.

Examples of Past Submissions
- You can find all past winning submissions from past years on the website under Student → Past winners.
- Find below some of our favorites from the past couple years:

Judging

Overview

Time Period
- Judging starts after all submissions have been turned in on October 28th, 2024.
- If you are to use third-party judges, we encourage you to reach out to potential volunteers to the submission deadline.
- Winners should be announced during the months of November and December after all the submissions have been judged.
- Judging should end on November 22nd, 2024 and you should input your winner into the CAC Review Portal.
- NOTE: neither the Internet Education Foundation nor the Congressional App Challenge can announce winners. See more in the next section for more details.

Where to Find Submissions
- All student submissions for your district can be found in the Review Portal (access information in your DIS sheet).
  - From here, you can download a copy of each application and send them out to judges for review.
  - If you’ve received 10 or more applications, and need to distribute them to more than one judge, please contact [email protected] to receive applications in .xlsx format.
- What to do with your submissions
  - After the deadline to submit an app has passed, you should share the submissions with your judges.
  - You can download the applications from your review portal or, as mentioned above, you can reach out to the CAC team to receive your applications in .xlsx format.
  - Be sure to distribute these files to your judges no later than November 1st, 2023. Judges should return their scores to the Congressional Office as soon as possible, so that the winners can be announced in a timely manner.

Criteria for Judges
- Judging panels should:
  - Consist of impartial judges who do not have a conflict of interest in the outcome.
  - Consist of an odd number of judges (ideally 3-7) in the case of a tie.
  - Some offices with less than 10 submissions only use one judge.
  - Be as close to equal in terms of gender as possible to avoid any unintentional judging bias.
  - Include judges of different racial and gender backgrounds, to avoid any unintentional bias.
- Profile of ideal judge:
  - A Computer Science professor or college student from a local university
  - A local STEM teacher
  - A tech entrepreneur
  - An employee at a tech-related company in the district
  - Do not need to be a constituent of the district
- District staff reserve the right to substitute or modify the judging panel at any time for any reason.
  - Judges have the right to withdraw from judging in the event of circumstances beyond their control.
  - Judges must be fair and impartial.
  - We ask that judges elect to recuse him or herself from judging a submission, if it is not appropriate for him or her to judge that particular submission because of a past or current relationship with that particular participant.
- Once you chose your judges, you must communicate with the Congressional App Challenge
  - the CAC needs to track judge recruitment to make sure offices are on track and to make sure that judging panels have been appropriately selected.
- - Once your judges have been selected, you must record them on your Congressional District Information Sheet.

Additional Notes on Judging
- Offices are encouraged to use the CAC as an opportunity to engage with local computer science professionals. We recommend that Offices recruit a diverse selection of professionals to act as judges.
- Judges can be an excellent asset to help you raise awareness in the community, both during and after the Challenge.
  - Announce judge selection on social media.
  - You can ask the judges to also help you advertise the App Challenge in your district.
- Themes: On a national level, the CAC does not set a theme. However, we give offices the autonomy of creating their own theme, if you choose to do so, please be sure to inform the Internet Education Foundation.
- Source Code: On a national level, the CAC will not collect source code. Offices are welcome to collect student source code, but any office that chooses to do so is responsible for the collection, storage, and dissemination of the code to the judges and intellectual property risks.

Full Rubric
- Judges need to evaluate the submissions along these general criterias.
- - Demonstrate an understanding of Computer Programming Skills
- - Did the students use CS skills to code their app?
    
    Is the app fully functional and applicable for societal use?
- - Quality of the Idea
- - How creative is the app?
    
    How original is it?
    
    If the app addresses a problem, how creative is the solution?
- - Implementation of the Idea
- - Did the student consider the user experience?
    
    Did the student give thought to the app design?
Here is the sample judging rubrics.

Winner Announcements

When and How
- Winners can be announced any time after the submission deadline for students to submit their applications on October 24th, 2024.
- Offices should have their winners announced by the end of December at the latest.
  - This allows the Congressional App Challenge more time to confirm each district’s winner, so that we can begin outreach for #HouseOfCode.
- As soon as the District winner is chosen and approved, Congressional Offices should submit their choice to the CAC, no later than November 22nd.
- Winners can be selected by using the feedback portion of the CAC Review Portal. Please be sure to only select one winner for your district.
- Winners can be announced via social media, a press release and/or a ceremony
  - Issue a press release with a quote from the Member about the student(s).
  - Announce the winner(s) on social media and share pictures.
  - Offices are also highly encouraged to meet with the winners, as this is a great opportunity to increase positive community engagement.

CAC Announcements
- Members of Congress are encouraged to announce their CAC winners at the start of Computer Science Education Week (Dec. 11, 2024).
- Congressional offices are encouraged to host their own event or meet-and-greet to honor the winner before or after the national announcement.
- The Congressional App Challenge will announce all winners to the public on January 15th, 2024, so be sure to announce before that time.
Note: the CAC cannot announce winners, it is your responsibility to announce the winner for your district. The CAC will simply report it, along with all of the other districts’ winners.

Events to Honor Winners
At a minimum, Congressional offices must meet with their winning student(s).

We request that each Congressional office host a recognition event in their district; it’s an incredible opportunity for positive constituent engagement. Congressional offices have a variety of options which include (but are not limited to):
- A Constituent Commemoration or Award Ceremony
- - Meet-and-Greet: A Meet-and-greet with the Member (inviting students, family and teachers) where they will present the student(s) with certificates of recognition.
- - Reception: A Reception to which they invite student participants, family and friends, STEM stakeholders, teachers, etc. and announce the winner there.
- Demo Day: A Demo day (like a science fair) where the students will pitch their app and a winner is named at the event.
Find more ideas of events you can hold on our Congressional Resources page.

Prizes
- Each district may provide prizes to district winners. A Member office may provide authorized gifts or awards of nominal value as part of the app competition. Gifts authorized by the Members’ Handbook include certificates, folders and frames of a nominal value.
- If the participating Member decides to host an awards ceremony, finalists will get the chance to present their apps to Judges, Congressional staffers and community leaders. The winning app in each district will be featured on the House.gov website and the CongressionalAppChallenge.us website.

#HouseOfCode

What is the #HouseOfCode?
- Every spring winning teams are invited to Capitol Hill where they demo their apps to their Representatives at a celebration called #HouseOfCode. It’s the most prestigious demo day in student STEM — the new national science fair. At #HouseOfCode students get to see their apps displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building, meet their Representatives, and connect with other coders from around the country!
- Dates for this year’s #HouseOfCode will be announced in December.
- For more information on the #HouseOfCode and a look at past events, please visit the #HouseOfCode page on our website.

Donations and Ethics

Soliciting Donations
- Offices may solicit donations but only under very specific conditions:
  - “A Member may only solicit donations (including in-kind) on behalf of the officially-sanctioned competition if the Member first receives written approval from the Committee on Ethics.” (Pg. 4 of Committee Resolution 114). You can find this form on pg. 43 of the Appendix and on the House Ethics Committee website.
  - House Ethics Committee website > Forms > STEM Competition
- The Congressional App Challenge continues to seek private-sector sponsors to help ensure the future viability of the program. Sponsors help support our team, provide resources to participants, and hold our annual #HouseOfCode festival. The Congressional App Challenge offers a variety of sponsorship tiers for companies large and small.
  - If you know of a company in your district that would be interested in supporting the CAC’s mission to promote computer science education in every corner of the country, please contact the CAC Team.

Donations of $50 or Less
Private institutions wishing to donate less than $50 to your App Challenge must abide by these rules:
- Organizations may offer to donate prizes worth less than $50 to the student participants and/or winners of the Congressional App Challenge. IMPORTANT: Prizes shall not be directed to the Member’s office; instead, it should be directed to the entrants and winners of the competition.
- Examples of such prizes might include (but are not limited to):
  - A $50 gift certificate donated by a local business to the winner of the Congressional App Challenge in a specific district.
  - Three gift certificates worth $25, $15 and $10 are donated by a local organization to the first, second and third place winners of their district’s App Challenge (totaling $50).
  - A tour of a local business organized and hosted by that organization.
  - NOT ALLOWED: An organization donates three $50 gift certificates (totaling $150) for the top three winners. This would violate the $50 limit.

Donations of Over $50
Private institutions wishing to donate more than $50 to your App Challenge must abide by these rules:
- Offices must direct any donations (in the form of (a) technical assistance with the competition, or (b) prizes for the entrants and winners of the competition), to the Sponsor (IEF) if the value of the donation(s) from any single source is more than $50.
- For example: if you want to donate tickets (valued over $50) to an event for the winner, you must be willing to make that prize available to all the winners from every district which hosts a Challenge.
- If you have questions or concerns about soliciting prizes, please feel free to contact the Ethics Committee. When contacting Ethics, please be sure to clarify that you are calling specifically about the CAC, as the rules around the Challenge may differ from other events.

Ethics Waiver
- If your office is interested in seeking prizes for the Congressional App Challenge, you can submit a waiver to the Ethics Committee. Waiver can be found on the House Ethics website
  - Go to Forms >STEM Competition> Waiver
- Note: if your office has already filled out an Ethics waiver, they do not need to do so again for another two years.

Glossary

Abbreviations
- App: Application
- CAC: Congressional App Challenge
- CS: Computer Science
- DIS: District Information Spreadsheet
- IEF: Internet Education Foundation
- POC: Point of Contact
- STEAM: Science, Technology, Education, Art, and Math
- STEM: Science, Technology, Education, Math

Terms
- The Congressional App Challenge: (“CAC” or “App Challenge”). The official name of this program is the “Congressional App Challenge.” The Congressional App Challenge is an “Officially-sanctioned Competition” of the U.S. House Of Representatives. The rules governing such competitions are in the Members’ Congressional Handbook under “Officially-sanctioned Competitions” (link here).
- The Sponsor: Per the rules issued by the Committee on House Administration, the CAC must be operated by an external, non-governmental “Sponsor” (see Rules Issued for the CAC by the Committee on House Administration (2015)). The Committee on House Administration has appointed the Internet Education Foundation (IEF) as the official Challenge Sponsor. Their sole purpose is to assist with coordinating the challenge, and not act as a monetary sponsor.
- Internet Education Foundation (IEF): The Internet Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to a strong Internet to promote communications, commerce and democracy.
- App: For this competition, an “app” is a piece of software, created using the basic computer functions as specified later in this toolkit, to perform a function on a digital device (PC, web, mobile or otherwise).

Important Links - Read More