Tag Archives: competition

Like many of you, we’ve been thinking a lot about the future. What do we want to take with us from the time before the coronavirus? What’s best left in the past? How do we want to live as we stagger, sore-armed, back into society? If we’ve learned anything from the past year, it’s that collaboration carried us through. Working together is what kept kids learning when the pandemic sent them home. It’s what developed vaccines faster than ever before.…

The National STEM Video Game Challenge has motivated interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in nearly 20,000 middle and high school students since launching in 2011 by harnessing their natural passion for playing video games and inspiring them to design games of their own. Presented by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media with founding sponsor the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the STEM Challenge has named 113 youth winners – including 40% female –…

In England at the turn of the last century, a young man named Jacob (whose last name is not known) was on his way to a society event dressed in his finest attire and carrying only his umbrella in case of rain. Naturally, his journey was beset with obstacles. A barrier placed in the middle of the street (by a misguided commissioner, perhaps) that could only be escalated by climbing a delivery crate. Rain clouds hanging low like giant parade…

California high school student Sooraj Suresh was asleep when his father entered his room to tell him he had just won the National STEM Video Game Challenge. Sooraj was excited of course. But, like a typical teenager, he wasted no time in going back to sleep. The next day at school his friends congratulated him on his award-winning game, Pixel Star One. They all wanted to try it out as soon as possible. In person at the Games for Change…

  The photo above was taken last night at NYU’s Skirball Center at the 11th Annual Games for Change Festival Awards Ceremony as these fourteen young people from all over the country were being honored for their achievements as winners of the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. Gaming has touched the current generation of learners in a new way. The 2013 National STEM Video Game Design Challenge challenged enthusiastic students around the country to look under the hood of…

Today at the Cooney Center, we are proud and excited to announce that the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge is officially open for entries. This nationwide competition invites game makers of every age to show their passion for both playing and making video games, while aiming to motivate children’s interests in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). With four different categories and multiple streams to submit to, there’s something for almost everyone.  The Middle School and High School categories…

Today at the Cooney Center, we are proud and excited to announce that the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge is officially open for entries. This nationwide competition invites game makers of every age to show their passion for both playing and making video games, while aiming to motivate children’s interests in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). With four different categories and multiple streams to submit to, there’s something for almost everyone.  The Middle School and High School categories…

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and E-Line Media were at the White House today, where  U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the launch of the new Digital Promise Initiative. First established as a non-profit organization created by the President and. Congress through the Department of Education as an effort to promote breakthrough technologies  to transform teaching and learning. The 2011 National STEM Video Game Challenge is one of the new initiatives that the Administration hopes will spur research and…

It’s hard to believe that the National STEM Video Game Challenge has come to a close. The Cooney Center team has just returned from D.C., where we invited the six finalists of the Collegiate and Developer streams of the competition to the Quick-Pitch Competition on Tuesday, March 29. Each team had a total of 20 minutes to present their prototypes and answer questions before a panel of judges at the Pew Center for American Life.   We were thrilled to…

On Wednesday, the White House announced the winners of the Apps for Healthy Kids competition ― part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! campaign. Our Executive Director, Michael H. Levine, was honored to be involved, as one of the judges. Congrats to all the winners and runner-ups! Earlier this month, White House CTO Aneesh Chopra also launched Challenge.gov, a one-stop-shop where entrepreneurs and innovators can follow in the footsteps of the Apps for Healthy Kids winners to compete for prizes…