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​​The theme for this year's Premier's Coding Challenge is #digitalinnovationqld.

Digital innovation Queensland

Queensland has proud history of world class innovators, from Peter Doherty who won the Nobel Peace prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Rolf M. Zinkermagel to Ray Ashdown who invented the pineapple peeler. Over the past 8 years, over 2,000 Queensland students have created innovative digital solutions to enter the Premier’s Coding Challenge.

As a young Queenslander, your voice is highly valued and your ideas have the power to drive real change. With a deep understanding of the world around you and a passion for innovation, your contributions are significant. By sharing your ideas through this challenge, you can help tackle global challenges and create a more sustainable, fair and inclusive future.

This year is an opportunity for you to harness your 21st century skills and shape the future by developing an interactive digital solution that addresses 1 or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, driving positive change in the world.

When creating your digital solution, remember to provide tips and links to further information. Your solution could be an app, game or website and should be visually appealing and informative.

Primary (Years 3–6) entrants will submit:

• an interactive digital solution (game, app or website) that creates change and provides links for users to access more information
• a video explanation of your digital solution.

Secondary (Years 7–10) entrants will submit:

• an innovative digital solution (app, game or website) that could be developed into a fully functional application to improve your school and provide links for users to access more information
• a video evaluation of your digital solution.

Entries will be assessed against a se​t of criteria by a panel of official judges.

How to enter

Students can enter as individuals or in pairs.

Entries must be produced using software that is either free or free for educational purposes.

A valid coding challenge entry must have 2 components:

1. A digital solution to the challenge. You must submit your code online via the submission portal and in accordance with the official rules and instructions.
• Scratch—upload the SB3 file for your prototype.
  
• MakeCode Arcade—upload the PNG ​file or provide a link in a notepad file
• Text-based code (e.g. Python or JavaScript)—submit as a text file.
• HTML entries—submit one zipped folder containing all folders, pages, and images. Hot-linked images will not be accepted.
• All other entries—submit your code so it may be easily compiled by the panel of judges, including specifying the language or application used when creating your digital solution. If your solution is hosted online—provide a link in a text file.
2. A video of no more than 90 seconds explaining or evaluating your digital solution.
• Keep a high-resolution version of the video that can be used if selected as a winner.
• Recommended format for video files are: MPG, AVI, MOV and MP4.

Categories

All Queensland students in Year 3 to Year 10 can enter in 1 of 8 categories.

Primary—interactive game, app, or website:

• Years 3 and 4—MakeCode Arcade or Scratch
  
• Years 3 and 4—open platform
• Years 5 and 6—MakeCode Arcade or Scratch
• Years 5 and 6—open platform

Secondary—innovative game, app or website:

• Years 7 and 8—Python/HTML
• Years 7 and 8—open platform
• Years 9 and 10—Python/HTML
• Years 9 and 10—open platform

Selection criteria and official rules

• Download the judging criteria
• Download the official rules

Prizes

All participating students will receive a certificate signed by the Premier and Minister for Education. Winners will share in $15,000 worth of robotics prizes, attend an awards ceremony and connect with tech experts to explore future pathways.

Travel and accommodation will be covered for all winning students, their parent/carer and a school representative from outside the South East region to attend the awards ceremony.​

Promoting the challenge

We encourage you to use this A3 poster​ to help promote the challenge within your school.

Feel free to watch the video below to hear from staff and students at Springfield Central State School and Ripley Valley Secondary College as they share their experiences.

You can also explore a selection of inspiring videos from previous winners. This collection showcases entries across all categories and age groups, from Year 3 to Year 10.