iCodejr, the licensed online coding & robotics academy for school children, announced the winners for its first inter-school coding competition for students in Dubai in collaboration with Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus (Dtec), Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO)’s wholly-owned tech hub and coworking space, and the largest of its kind in the MENA region.
Hosted February 26, 2022, as part of one of the largest innovation festivals in the world, the month-long UAE Innovates 2022, the competition judged students in three categories – Jr Cadet (Grades 1-4), Jr Captain (Grades 5-8) and Jr Colonel (Grades 9-13). Students could participate as teams, in any of the three groups depending on their capabilities. Each team was given 90 minutes to create any block-based platform or application based on themes announced on the day. 263 students registered for the event representing 102 teams from 16 schools in Dubai.
The projects were assessed by an expert judging panel based on five criteria – code, creativity, user interface, originality, and presentation. The judging committee included Yasmine Fadel, Software Engineer at Track24, Maria D’Costa, Software Engineer at Expensify, Naiyarah Hussain, Lead Developer Advocate, Gulf & Levant Countries at IBM and Almas Qureshi, Head of Technology, Raffles World Academy, Ali Khawaja, Senior Faculty at American University Sharjah, founding member Dubai Blockchain Centre.
The winners were:
Jr Cadet (Grades 1-4)
- 1st Place: Ambassador School
- 2nd Place: GEMS Modern Academy
- 3rd Place: JSS Private School
Jr Captain (Grades 5-8)
- 1st Place: Regent International School
- 2nd Place: GEMS Wellington Academy
- 3rd Place: Cambridge International School
Jr Colonel (Grades 9-13)
- 1st Place: Dubai College
- 2nd Place: Dubai College
- 3rd Place: Cambridge International School
Hannan Moti, the co-founder at iCodejr, said, “We were overwhelmed not only by the number of schools and students that participated but by the calibre of their capabilities. I am sure that with strong support and guidance, these students will go on to do much more exciting things in future.
