Congratulations to the five winners of EPA's Apps for the Environment Challenge! Big thanks to the 38 developer teams that submitted apps. Please check them out and see how they help you understand or protect the environment.

Winners Gallery

Best Overall App (Winner and Runner Up)

Best Student App (Winner and Runner Up)

Popular Choice App

View all submissions

Prizes

Best Overall App (Winner and Runner Up) (2)

The Winner and Runner Up will be invited to Washington, D.C. to a recognition event where they will demonstrate their apps to EPA officials and possibly the EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson. In addition, EPA will feature the apps of the Winners and Runners Up on the EPA website for a period of one year.

Best Student App (Winner and Runner Up) (2)

The Winner and Runner Up will be invited to Washington, D.C. to a recognition event where they will demonstrate their apps to EPA officials and possibly the EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson. In addition, EPA will feature the apps of the Winners and Runners Up on the EPA website for a period of one year.

To be eligible to win Best Student Application, entrants must be enrolled in one or more courses at the high school, undergraduate, or graduate level during the summer or fall of 2011.

Popular Choice App

The winner of the Popular Choice Award will be invited to Washington, D.C. to a recognition event where they will demonstrate their apps to EPA officials and possibly the EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson.

In addition, EPA will feature the apps of the Winners and Runners Up on the EPA website for a period of one year.

About the Challenge

Winners announced (view all dates)

EPA is challenging app developers to look at EPA data and come up with the best, most useful, innovative way to use, show, or combine publically available EPA data in an app. In short, we'd like you to take EPA data and show us what you can do.

Yes, for this challenge, we are leaving it wide open for you to be creative. We are not specifying exactly what kind of app we are looking for or what it needs to do - other than be creative and innovative, widely useful, and use EPA data fairly and consistently to address health or environmental problems.  For more information and helpful resources, please check out EPA's Apps for the Environment webpage!

Judges

John Cunningham

John Cunningham

U.S. EPA/OSWER

Ellen Manges

Ellen Manges

U.S. EPA/OSWER

Karen Reshkin

Karen Reshkin

U.S. EPA/Region 5

Michael Gill

Michael Gill

U.S. EPA/Region 9

Duane James

Duane James

U.S. EPA/Region 9

Matthew Small

Matthew Small

U.S. EPA/Region 9

Peter Preuss

Peter Preuss

U.S. EPA/ORD

Lisa Garcia

Lisa Garcia

U.S. EPA/OEJ

Thomas Dabolt

Thomas Dabolt

U.S. EPA/OW

Moshay Simpson

Moshay Simpson

U.S. EPA/OECA

Angela Brown

Angela Brown

U.S. EPA/Region 5

Cynthia Giles

Cynthia Giles

U.S. EPA/OECA

Judging Criteria

Usefulness

Each submission will be rated on the strength of its potential to help individuals and/or communities make informed decisions about the environment and/or human health.

Innovativeness

Each submission will be rated for the degree of new thinking it brings to applications for the environment or human health, and the creativity shown in designing for impact.

Usability

Each submission will be rated on its user-friendliness and interactive capabilities. Preference will be given to applications that are easily accessible to a range of consumers, including those with disabilities.

How to Enter

Interested persons should read the official rules as well as 

the questions and answers. You also need to register on this site (registration is free) and verify your email address via the confirmation email you'll receive.  After you register, you'll be able to enter a submission during the Challenge’s app submission period (June 9 – September 16, 2011).

Fill out the submission form on the application submission tab, including your submission title, a text description of the submission, a link to the app, a list of data sets used, and a video that shows the app in use. Be sure to read the terms and conditions and, if you agree, check off the box and submit!