President Obama Challenges Students and Entrepreneurs

The United States is not ranked among the top educational countries in the world. As a nation, math and science is not our strong suits. The problem is getting people motivated to want to succeed. The focus of the national "Educate to Innovate" campaign is designed to increase passion for subjects like science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Obama announce today the National STEM Video Game Challenge. In a joint effort with education powerhouses such as Entertainment Software Association, Microsoft, the American Library Association, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Obama touted this initiative as a tool in create a stronger presence throughout the world in areas such as math, science, technology, and engineering.

The President went on to praise the National STEM Video Game Challenge for giving unique incite in this program. Their expertise is critical to the success of this initiative.

The National STEM Video Game Challenge is broken down into two competitions:

Youth Prize/Criteria

• Grades 5-8

• Video game design

• U.S. resident

• Non-metro or suburban focus

• Laptop awards

• Video game books for design

• Total prizes totaling $50,000

Developer Prize/Criteria

• Games geared toward pre-K to 4^th grade

• STEM concept enabled

• Non-metro or suburban focus

• College students - special awards (2-$25,000 awards)

• Utilize current technology - cell phones

• Total prizes totaling $50,000

The deadline to entry this contest is January 5, 2011 with entries beginning October 12, 2010. Complete rules can be found at cooneycenterprizes.org and stemchallenge.org/youthprize.

The market for video game development and publishing has sky rocketed over the past several years. What better way to combine a child's passion for video games, a developers desire to create something ingenious, mixed in with valuable learning material. This initiative from President Obama is much needed to close the achievement gap between America and other developed nations.

Source: businesswire.com

Source: National STEM Video Game Challenge