[Essay Included] Why I was selected as Swift Student Challenge Winner (youngest winner in Japan🇯🇵)

The original text of this article is in Japanese. (Translated by Deep L)

 I am logging this because I became the youngest Japanese Winner (*tentative at the time of the award, I was a high school freshman, 16 years old) of the Swift Student Challenge, a programming contest sponsored by Apple!

This article includes the background of the application process, the full essay (original text) of the submitted work, and the concept of the idea for the application. We hope it will be of help to those who are going to challenge the Swift Student Challenge in the future, as there are not many articles about Japanese winners.

What is the Swift Student Challenge?

The Swift Student Challenge is a programming contest held annually by Apple Inc. 350 winners are selected from all over the world, and it is held every year before WWDC.

Motivation for Entry

I have started working as a mentor at Tech Kids School and needed to review the Swift language.

Eligibility

Students (most recently enrolled in any educational institution (college, high school, etc.)), Students who have no record of working as a full-time engineer are basically eligible to participate.

Submissions

We will develop using Swift (Mac required) or SwiftPlaygrounds (iPad also possible), Apple's official app development tool. All programs must be written to run offline. It is an easy language and there are plenty of official Apple tutorials available, so even beginners should have no problems. This time I developed using SwiftPlayground on my iPad.

Create an interactive scene in the App Playground that can be experienced in less than 3 minutes. Unleash your creativity. If you're looking for inspiration, the templates provided will help you create more advanced creations. Add graphics, audio, and more to build your own App playground.

https://developer.apple.com/jp/swift-student-challenge/eligibility/

You may want to check out the many past winners on Youtube WWDC23 Swift Student Challenge (playlist of winners, 2023)

Submitted Apps

Mogic Japanese takes advantage of the feature that consonants + vowels correspond verbatim to a single hiragana character. Dial to select consonants and vowels, tap to add. Drag to move added characters, and tap to delete them. Sound is played when you touch the ripples flowing from above.

ConceptI wanted the app to combine my interest in design ✖️ language. Also, most of the past Swift Student Challenge winners from Japan have been related to Japanese culture, so I decided to follow suit. The sounds of the Japanese language and the beauty of Mincho (Calligraphy) typography are recognized around the world. We originally planned to create an application that would allow foreigners to learn Japanese from its sounds, but gave up on the idea due to lack of time, and changed to a concept art project.

How can we get our application adopted?

This is a subjective viewpoint, but I have tried to think about what kind of work and essay should be submitted in order to be selected for the contest. Based on my past experience with the Kids Creators Studio (13 times more likely to be selected), Unexplored Junior (11 times more likely to be selected), and school recommendation (4 times more likely to be selected), I can guarantee the accuracy of the results to some extent.

What is more important than your work is the story of the essay you submit. To put it bluntly, if you can write a good story, even if it is a fabrication of your own work, it may be accepted over and above the quality of your work. In other words, even if you are a beginner in programming, the content of your essay will be enough to put you on the playing field.

The essay should include

・Tell us about the features and technologies you used.
・Beyond the Swift Student Challenge If you've used your coding skills to support your community or an organization in your area, let us know.
・Apps on the App Store (optional) If you have one or more apps on the App Store created entirely by you as an individual, tell us about them. This won‘t influence the judging process.
・Comments (optional) Is there anything else you‘d like us to know?

The following is a list of the four sections. (The original essay I submitted is posted below.)

Tell us about the features and technologies you used.

This is the section where you write a description of the app you have developed. Here you should not only describe the features, but also why you created this app, what kind of people you want to use it, and what you want to achieve with it. Write your passion story.

In my case, it was "I want people around the world to experience a more natural language learning experience with this app. Be as passionate as possible and be specific about who you want to use it and why.

Beyond the Swift Student Challenge

If you've used your coding skills to support your community or an organization in your area, let us know.

Your biography and development experience. Include what kind of experience you've had.

Apps on the App Store (optional)

If you have one or more apps on the App Store created entirely by you as an individual, tell us about them. This won't influence the judging process.

If you have one or more apps on the App Store created entirely by you as an individual, tell us about them.

Comments (optional)

Is there anything else you'd like us to know?

Although it is optional, this is the place where you can express your passion the most. Write about why you are applying for the Swift Student Challenge, what you would like to do if accepted, your experiences, and your vision for the future.

Below is my actual submitted essay. It will be paid content as I am embarrassed to show it. This essay, which was actually accepted, will definitely increase your chances of being accepted for the Swift Student Challenge. If you feel it is worth the 800yen, please purchase it!