The King Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD) in Amman has launched The App Challenge 2011 (TAC), a nationwide application development competition for high school students aged 15 - 17.

TAC is an initiative supported by King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein and managed by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development.

A total of 33 schools were invited to the recently held Orientation Day. Ten teams from different high schools representing the majority of the Kingdom’s governorates will qualify to compete in this cycle.

Competing teams are expected to design and develop an iOS application that corresponds with TAC’s 2011 theme Jordanian Products. Applications should be submitted in English, be compatible with Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad and showcase local products that demonstrate the Kingdom’s rich cultural heritage.

Participating students will undergo a five-day training workshop on the basics of application design and development at the Jordan Gaming Lab - another initiative supported by His Majesty that endeavors to advance Jordan’s gaming development capacity.

“We are very excited to see what The App Challenge 2011 will bring this time. The competition’s results in the first cycle under the theme of Tourism in Jordan proved that young Jordanians are brewing with creativity,” said Nour Khrais, founder of Maysalward and the technical partner in TAC.

“In this cycle, we are looking for applications that blend ingenuity with technical aptitude and we urge all interested schools to apply.”

Khrais added that the applications will be assessed by a panel of international experts against the following criteria: content relevance to target audiences and information validity, programming and coding quality and the use of technology, creativity in design and the use of multimedia features, in addition to the App’s user-friendliness and practicality.

The winning school will be awarded $5,000 to be used for IT development while another $5,000 will be allocated as gifts to the winning team members. – TradeArabia News Service