Krish Jain from Malaga became the only Spanish winner of the 2021 edition of the Swift Student Challenge. To be eligible for the award, the contestants had to demonstrate their creativity and technical programming skills.
Jain wowed Apple with a project featuring a minimalist version of the game cut the ropewhich allowed him to be one of the selected among the 350 winners of the annual challenge that the company celebrates on the occasion of the WWDC.
If you are a student, you love programming and you want to become the next Krish Jain, you may be interested to know when the Swift Student Challenge 2023 will be held and what you need to do to participate.
What is Apple’s Swift Student Challenge?
For some years, Apple has held the Swift Student Challenge (“Challenge for Swift Students”, in Spanish) and makes it coincide with the celebration of its World Developers Conference (WWDC), which usually takes place in June.
With this challenge, the company wants to support those young students who are passionate about programming and who could become developers of applications for Apple operating systems.
It makes sense to coincide this contest with the event of software Apple Annual. The WWDC is usually the place chosen to present all the news of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS, and the first beta versions for developers usually arrive a few days later.
What do the winners win with the Swift Student Challenge?
Before the pandemic, and when the WWDC could still be held in person, all the winners of the Swift Student Challenge won a week-long trip to San Jose, California, with all expenses paid, including admission to attend the event (which costs $1,600).
In 2020, the physical event was replaced by an event exclusively on-line and, with it, the award also became virtual. This was also the case in 2021 and 2022 and it may be that in 2023 the WWDC will be virtual again, although a group of students will be able to see it from Apple Park.
In 2021, in addition to receiving merchandise of that year’s WWDC, the winners of the challenge could download software before release, attend lab sessions, and connect with Apple engineers at the WWDC21 forums. They also got one year of individual subscription to Apple’s Beta Software Program for free.
This could be the case again in 2023. In 2022, the winners of that year’s Swift Student Challenge received “exclusive WWDC22 apparel, a set of custom pins, and one year of membership in the Apple Developer Program.”
When will the next Swift Student Challenge be held?
The dates of the next Swift Student Challenge, which will be held on the occasion of WWDC 2023, have not yet been announced. In 2022, it has taken place from June 6 to 10, so in 2023 it could be from June 5 to 9.
As for the Swift Student Challenge, we predict the dates to watch out for in 2023 based on previous years:
- The project submission period could open on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 9:00 PDT.
- The deadline for submitting projects could end on Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.
- The winners and winners could be announced on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
How to participate in the 2023 Swift Challenge Student?
Requirements to participate in the Swift Challenge Student
To participate in the Swift Challenge Student, you must meet several requirements:
- Be 13 years old or older (United States), 16 years old or older (European Union) or the equivalent in each jurisdiction
- Be registered as an Apple developer (free) or be part of the Apple Developer Program
- Being a student: 1) Being enrolled in an academic institution; 2) Be enrolled in a STEM organization; 3) Be enrolled in an Apple Developer Academy; or 4) Have finished high school in the last 6 months
For more information, you can go to the Apple page.
Characteristics of the Swift project to present
There are not many requirements about the Swift project that you must present in order to participate in the annual Apple challenge, but it is important to take them into account:
- Solo project done in Swift Playgrounds
- 3 minute interactive scene
- ZIP file of maximum 25 MB
- Content only in English
- project available offline (cannot depend on internet connection)
- Compatible with Swift Playgrounds 4.02 on iPadOS 15.4 or Xcode 13.3 on macOS 11.2.3
Again, visit the Apple page for more information.
How to complete the application
1. Sign in with your Apple ID associated with your developer account to complete the form. For minors, information from the father, mother or legal guardian will be required.
two. You must complete the form with information about your previous experience as a developer, such as if you have an app in the App Store. You can also include your CV (of legal age).
3. Next, you must include a document (in any language) that proves that you are a student, as well as the contact details of your supervisor.
Four. Then, it will be time to upload your Swift project and explain in a few words the functions and technologies used.
5. Finally, you can conclude by explaining more about your passion and knowledge about the world of programming.
When will the 2023 Swift Challenge Student winners be announced?
As has happened in previous years, the announcement of the winners of the 2023 Swift Challenge Student should be made a few days before the start of WWDC 2023, surely around Tuesday, May 23, 13 days after what could be the key note inaugural.
