Alexa can help ease the lives of busy students, allowing them to focus on their studies. Whether it’s about struggling with various classes, time management, or tutoring, Alexa can be a concierge, a study buddy, or a learning coach when students need a little extra help staying motivated. But what else can she do in this area?

The Challenge

We're asking AWS Educate’s student community to think about the various challenges their peers face and the barriers to success in the academic setting. Working individually or in teams, AWS Educate student members will be challenged with the task of building Alexa skills that will address these challenges and help support students on the path to graduation.

Never built a skill? No problem. AWS Educate’s Alexa Badge goes over everything you need to know to build your first custom Amazon Alexa skill.

Build Alexa skills that fit into one of the following categories and use these examples for inspiration!

• Student Life - Such as finding student-friendly establishments, finding student jobs and internships, staying healthy, reducing stress, getting enough sleep, financial planning, and more.

• Learning - Such as study assistants, class scheduling, classroom experience improvements, interacting with teachers/ other students, mitigating procrastination, and more.

• Community - Such as connecting with other students, keeping in touch with friends and family, raising awareness on social issues affecting students, discovering campus events, activities, resources, and more.

We can’t wait to see what you build!

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IMPORTANT NOTE ON ELIGIBILITY

• Students and veterans may participate as individuals or in teams
• Each participant must be 18+ years old and a current resident of the U.S
• Each participant must also be a member of AWS Educate

$27,760 in prizes

(AGE 18+ U.S. ONLY)

1. Register for the Alexa Skills for Students on Devpost.
2. If you’re not already a member, sign up for AWS Educate. (It’s required!)
3. When applying, please be sure to use the .edu email address issued to you by your school. If you do not have a .edu email address, additional verification may be required. The application review process can take up to 48 hours, so make sure you register ahead of time. Go to www.awseducate.com to enroll.
4. Sign up for an Amazon Developer Account.
5. Review the Resources page to learn more about the Alexa Skills Badge.
6. Build your skill!
7. Shoot your demo video and take screenshots of your functioning skill. Review the rules for video requirements!
8. Submit your skill for certification to the U.S. Skill Store AND submit your entry to Devpost at awseducate.devpost.com before April 22nd at 5pm EDT.

• Innovative
  How original and creative is the skill? Are there already existing skills that are identical or very similar? Does this skill provide a better or faster way of addressing students' needs than existing solutions?
• Potential Impact
  Consider the potential social or business value that this new skill delivers, and the extent to which the skill widely useful or scalable?
• Execution of Theme
  Considering the purpose of the challenge, does the skill fit the theme outlined?
• User Experience
  How user-friendly is the skill?
• Quality of the Submission Package
  Including quality of the description, video demo, and any other materials submitted to Devpost