Our Coolest Projects 2024 online showcase has come to a close, with 7197 young people from 43 countries sharing the incredible things they have made with code. A huge congratulations to everyone who took part!

Coolest Projects is our annual global celebration of young digital creators and the cool things they make with technology. This year’s showcase featured 4678 amazing projects, from a doughnut clicker game created in Scratch to an app that tracks sunscreen usage and areas with high UV levels for users. 

This week, we celebrated each and every young creator and their incredible tech projects in a special livestream:

Every year, we invite some very special VIP judges to choose their favourite projects to highlight. Meet our 2024 judges and find out about the projects they picked.

Azra Ismail’s favourite projects

Azra is the co-founder of MakerGhat, an education nonprofit based in India that aims to nurture underserved youth to become the next generation of entrepreneurs and leaders. MakerGhat has reached around a million youth to date through hands-on making programmes. She is also an Assistant Professor at Emory University, where she directs the CARE Lab (Collective Action & Research for Equity). Azra was named in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list, and has previously worked with Google, the Wadhwani Institute for AI, and United Nations Global Pulse. She has a PhD in Human-Centered Computing and Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech. 

See Azra’s favourite projects:

• Advanced programming project WorkTunes by Qizhen from China
• Net Zero Home, a hardware project made by Reyansh, Advith, and Aditya in India
• Web project Igbo Language Project by Zihe in the USA
• Mobile app ShareWear created by Christina in Canada
• ArtHub made by Ada and Tingzhi from the USA, from the games category
• Scratch project Mental wellbeing 2 :) created by Sophie from the UK

Greg Foot’s favourite projects

Greg is an award-winning Science Presenter and Producer who has written and hosted a bunch of stuff on TV, YouTube, radio, and stage over the past 20 years. Greg has a BBC Radio 4 show called Sliced Bread that investigates whether wonder products like face creams and air fryers are indeed ‘the best thing since sliced bread’, or marketing hype. Greg regularly pops up on TV — he’s a regular on the BBC’s Morning Live and was the in-house science guy on Blue Peter and Sunday Brunch for many years. He’s also hosted multiple TV series, made live shows for families on YouTube (Let’s Go Live), and toured science theatre shows around the UK.

Take a look at Greg’s favourite projects:

• Advanced programming project Evolution Simulation made by Daniel, Anton, Finlay, and Connor in the UK
• Hardware project Imash (AI Water Dispenser) created by Lionel from Indonesia
• Coloring Pages Using Edge Detection created by Grace in the USA, from the web category
• Mobile app Allergen Alert: Food and Cosmetic Safety Tool by Anika in the USA
• Desktop Goose: Meme Defender, a game created by Joel from Indonesia
• Scratch project Guess The Country made by Lavitra from India

Natalie is the Executive Director of the App Inventor Foundation, a global nonprofit that has empowered over 20 million inventors of all ages to create over 100 million apps to improve their lives and uplift their communities. She received her PhD in ML and AI education from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, and currently serves as Expert on Mission at UNESCO to develop the UN’s AI Competency Framework for K-12 Students. 

See which projects Natalie chose as her favourites:

• Creating A Smart Pill Dispenser with AI Technology to Help Fight the Medication Nonadherence Problem With Raspberry Pi Technology, an advanced programming project by Andrew in the USA
• Hardware project Vim! created by Grace and Charles in Ghana
• Website for Recycling of School Uniform by Jing, Jack, and Arthur from China, from the web category
• OriPal, a mobile app made by Akari, Lila, and Lily from Japan
• Pose Estimation Single-player Squash Game by Lung Ngok in Hong Kong, from the games category
• Scratch project DUCK! (yes, in all caps) created by Abby in the USA

Selin Ornek’s favourite projects

Selin is a 17-year-old multi-award winner and changemaker who has been passionate about using tech for good since an early age. She taught herself to code at age 8 and started building robots at 10, and participated in Coolest Projects for many years. She has built seven robots to date, including the social good robot iC4U, a robot guide dog for visually impaired people, and BB4All, an anti-bullying school aid robot. She has also built a stray dog wellbeing app, JAVA, and an AI model for breast cancer diagnosis. Her aim is to inspire young people, especially girls, to see the fun and importance of using tech for good.

Selin’s favourite projects are:

• Advanced programming project ROBO GREENY from Andrei in Romania
• MicroBit BitBot Controller, a hardware project made by Shivam from the UK
• Web extension Multi-Lingual Input Tools created by Sai in the USA
• Mobile app Pocket Doc. by Arjun from Ireland
• Vamoose made by Allison and Isabel from the USA, from the games category
• Imma Time-Loop, a Scratch project by Muhammad from Indonesia

Broadcom Coding with Commitment® award

We partnered with Broadcom Foundation to give a special award to young creators using coding and computing to solve real-world problems that matter to their communities. Broadcom Coding with Commitment® is a special recognition for a Coolest Projects creator aged 11–14 who has used computing as an essential problem-solving tool to help those around them.

This year’s Broadcom Coding with Commitment® recipients are Naitik, Shravasti, and Nikita from India in recognition of their project Drainage alert system. Their thoughtful project uses a water flow sensor connected to a Raspberry Pi computer to detect when waste enters the drainage system and causes blockages and send an alert to the local council.

Get inspired and keep creating!

Now you’ve seen the judges’ favourite projects, it’s time to pick your own! Take a look at the Coolest Projects 2024 online showcase gallery to see all the amazing projects from young people all over the world, and get inspired to make your own.

Participants will shortly receive their own unique certificates and the personalised feedback on their projects from our team of judges, to celebrate their achievements.

Support from our Coolest Projects sponsors means we can make the online showcase and celebration livestream an inspiring experience for the young people taking part. We want to say a big thank you to all of them: Amazon Future Engineer, Broadcom Foundation, GoTo, Kingston Technology, Meta, and Qube Research & Technologies.

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Big news for young coders and everyone who supports them: project registration is now open for Coolest Projects 2024! Coolest Projects is our global technology showcase for young people aged up to 18. It gives young creators the incredible opportunity to share the cool stuff they’ve made with digital technology with a global audience, and receive certificates and rewards to celebrate their achievements.

What you need to know about Coolest Projects

The Coolest Projects online showcase is open to young people worldwide. Young creators can register their projects to share them with the world in our online project gallery, and join our exciting livestream event to celebrate what they have made with the global Coolest Projects community.

By taking part in Coolest Projects, young people can join an international community of young makers, represent their country, receive personalised feedback on their projects, and get certificates and more to recognise their achievements.

Here’s how it works:

• Coolest Projects is completely free to take part in!
• All digital technology projects are welcome, from very first projects to advanced builds, and the projects don’t have to be complete
• Projects can be registered in one of six categories: Scratch, games, web, mobile apps, hardware, and advanced programming
• Young creators up to age 18 can take part individually or in teams of up to five friends
• Any young person anywhere in the world can take part in the online showcase, and there are in-person events in some countries for local creators too (find out more below)
• Registration for the online showcase is now open and closes on 22 May 2024
• All creators, mentors, volunteers, teachers, parents, and supporters are invited to the special celebration livestream on 26 June 2024

Taking part in Coolest Projects is simple:

• Young people think of an idea for their project, or choose something they’ve already made and are proud of
• Young people work with friends to create their project, or make it on their own 
• Creators (with the help of mentors if needed) register projects via the Coolest Projects website by 22 May
• Creators’ projects are shared with the world in the online showcase gallery
• Creators, mentors, and supporters explore the amazing projects in the online gallery, and join the livestream on 26 June to celebrate young creators’ achievements with the Coolest Projects community worldwide

Coolest Projects in-person events in 2024

As well as the global online showcase, Coolest Projects in-person events are held for young people locally in certain countries too, and we encourage creators to take part in both the online showcase and their local in-person event.

In 2024, creators can look forward to the following in-person events, run by us and partner organisations around the world:

• Coolest Projects Ireland, 13 April 2024 (run by us)
• Coolest Projects Belgium, 20 April 2024 (run by CoderDojo Belgium)
• Coolest Projects UK, 11 May 2024 (run by us)
• Coolest Projects Ghana, 1 June 2024 (run by Ghana Code Club)
• Coolest Projects Sri Lanka, 6 July 2024 (run by STEMUp Educational Foundation)

More events are coming soon, so sign up to the Coolest Projects newsletter to be sure to hear about any in-person events in your country. And if there isn’t an event near you, don’t worry. The online showcase is open to any young person anywhere in the world.

Help for you is at hand

Coolest Projects welcomes all digital tech projects, from beginner to advanced, and there are loads of great resources available to help you support the young people in your community to take part.

We are running a series of online calls and webinars for mentors and young people to share practical tips and help participants develop their ideas and build their creations. Sign up for the sessions here. All sessions will be recorded, so you can watch them back if you can’t join live.

You can also check out the Coolest Projects guidance page for resources to help you support young people throughout their Coolest Projects journey, including a mentor guide and session plans.

To inspire your coders, encourage them to take a look at the 2023 showcase gallery, where they can explore the incredible projects submitted by participants last year.

Our projects site is also a great place for participants to begin — there are hundreds of free step-by-step project guides to help young people create their own projects, whether they’re experienced tech creators or they’re just getting started.

Sign up for Coolest Projects updates

There’s lots more exciting news to come, from the announcement of our VIP judges to details about this year’s swag, so sign up for email updates to be the first to know. And whether your coders have already made something fun, innovative, or amazing that they want to share, or they’re inspired to make something new, Coolest Projects is the place for them. We can’t wait to see what they create!

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