The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has joined First Lady Michelle Obama in announcing the innovative Apps for Healthy Kids competition to Americans as part of the Let's Move! initiative.
Apps for Healthy Kids challenges software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop innovative, fun, and engaging tools and games that help kids and their parents to eat better and be more physically active, according to USDA.
“First Lady Michelle Obama has challenged America to tackle the issues of child nutrition and obesity and she knows that the Federal Government cannot do it alone – which is why we are launching this challenge, to tap America's ingenuity by enlisting the most creative, talented, and kid-savvy innovators across the nation to put their skills to the cause of empowering parents and inspiring kids to get active and eat healthy,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Apps for Healthy Kids competition entries will leverage the recently-released MyPyramid 1,000 food database to create web or mobile-based applications in two categories.
The first set of prizes will be awarded to digital games that best engage and motivate kids to eat healthy and be physically active.
The second set of prizes will be awarded to the most creative tools for parents striving to make the right choices for their kids.
The objective is to give parents instant access to easy-to-understand nutritional information they can trust when they are planning meals, at the grocery store, or picking up dinneron the way home from work.
Contestants will compete for US$40,000 in cash prizes and the chance to shine before USDA's all-star panel of judges, including Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Inc.; Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga Game Network, Inc.; Michael Levine, Executive Director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop; Mike Gallagher, President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association; Aneesh Chopra, US Chief Technology Officer, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; and David Lazarus, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture.
In addition to medal winners, the judges will announce a Popular Choice Award, which will go to the contestant with the most public votes.
Members of the public can register and vote at AppsforHealthyKids.com between noon on 14 July to noon on 14 August.
Entries must be submitted between 10 March and 30 June 2010.
