Our annual coding competition for pupils in Wales is back! This year, we’re asking participants to create a piece of software under the theme Combatting Climate Change.

Our Game of Codes competition is an opportunity for pupils to develop their problem solving, communication, and teamwork skills while improving their knowledge of computer programming in a fun and inventive way.

The challenge is to create a piece of software under the theme Combatting Climate Change. Examples could include games to teach the importance of tackling environmental issues, apps to help people with recycling and reusing materials, Scratch games to teach climate science, a world in Minecraft to show how flood defences work, or something that helps us learn about climate change in a new, fun way.

Your software must have an original design in the form of a game, website, app, quiz, or animation.  Any coding language can be used to create the software (e.g. Scratch, Python, Java, Visual Basic, App Inventor or HTML), and you can use the Raspberry Pi or BBC micro:bits that you may have in your school.

You can enter as a team or an individual. All entries must provide a teacher (or club leader/parent) contact and have the support of their school before entering. There is no limit to the number of teams/individuals a school can enter into the competition.

Team Entries
Ahead of the competition, groups in your class, pupils from your local school or your entire Technoclub can contribute to the development of your software. However, for the competition final, you will need to nominate a team of 2-6 people from the school to attend the final competition and prize day. It is important that this is a mixed ability group. Team entries should submit a poster presentation and cover the following:
– Name of the project
– Aim of the project – Who is it for?
– Team members
– How the software was created (e.g. What language did you use?)
– Evidence of your software (e.g. Screenshots, software file or photos of the final product)
– Design of the project (e.g. What did it look like before you started coding? Did you have any characters?  How did you decide what the project was going to achieve?)
– Reflection (How did you make decisions as a team?  What was the responsibility of each team member? What steps did you take to make the software?  Did you make any changes and if so, what changes? What did you learn when creating the final project?)

Individual Entries
Individual entries should submit a poster presentation and cover the following:
– Name of the project
– Aim of the project – Who is it for?
– How the software was created (e.g. What language did you use?)
– Evidence of your software (e.g. Screenshots, software file or photos of the final product)
– Design of the project (What did it look like before you started coding? Did you have any characters? How did you decide what the project was going to achieve?)
– Reflection (How did you make decisions? What steps did you take to make the software?  Did you make any changes and if so, what changes did you make?  What did you learn when creating the final project?)

Remember to consider the following when creating your software:
– Is your software innovative? Will people want to use it? Can you access similar software on the market?  What makes your software unique?  Why would someone want to use your software?
– Who is your software aimed at and how will you target them? For example, if your software game is targeted to teenagers, how will you ensure they want to use the software?
– Be creative! And make your software look fun

Key Dates:
– Entries must be submitted using one the form below and sent to gameofcodes@technocamps.com with the subject line Technocamps Game of Codes Competition by 4pm on Monday 14^th March 2022
– Shortlisted entries will be notified on Monday 21st March 2022
– Shortlisted entries will be invited to attend the Game of Codes Final Day hosted by the School of Computer Science and Informatics in Abacws, Cardiff on Wednesday 6^th April 2022, where finalists will be given the opportunity to showcase their entry to academics and special guest judges
– The best entries will receive prizes including a special prize of a VIP invitation to the official Abacws Launch event including a lecture by TV celebrity and mathematician Hannah Fry at Abacws on April 27^th 2022, and every team will receive a Certificate of Attendance and goodie bag