Rebecca Masisiak Congratulates Meet and Code Awards 2019 Winners
Channel: TechSoup Europe
Date: 2020-05-14

Born in 2017, Meet and Code [www.meet-and-code.org] sparks the interest of children, teenagers and young adults in software coding, and throughout 2019, the digital learning program encouraged organizers to compete in a friendly competition by coordinating events in the following categories; Community, Diversity, Girls do IT!, and Code for the Planet. 

More than 80 attendees joined the virtual awards on May 12, 2020 which comprised of finalists, partners, employees, and expert speakers which announced each of the category winners to receive 2,000 Euros in prize money. 

2019 Meet and Code category winners are:

• Girls do IT! Germany’s ‘Foerderverein der Grundschule am Koppenplatz’ for their Robot fairytales. Based upon a story in Stanislaw Lem's "Fables for Robots" encourages students aged 7–12 to design, build and program character robots and present them in a video trailer. The unique combination of theatre and robotics provides an easy and fun approach to coding and supports the need for girls in technology.

• Diversity. Hungary’s ‘Adj Esélyt Alapítvány’ for their Robotics Offline and Online initiative. Taking place over two consecutive days the program presented basics of coding for SEN students with floor-robots (offline) and Scottie-Go (online). The tools also support cognitive and social skills.

• Code for the Planet. Poland’s ‘Fundacja ArchitectsPL’ for their Designing and Printing the Coral Reef in 3D. In implementing the project, the team attempted to rebuild the world's ocean reef using a coral design in CAD software and printed using 3D printers. Young students were invited to design artificial reefs that mimic the texture and architectural structure of natural reefs.

• Community. Italy’s ‘Cooperativa Sociale Meta Onlus’ for their guide to help discover neighbourhoods. The solution aims to build a guide to re-discover neighbourhoods by using a free augmented reality platform that involves coding elements using interactive experiences. During the event, children were involved with unplugged coding activity, such as drawing and adding content to flow diagrams. Older participants were able to use Augmented Reality for the first time providing geo-locate experiences and testing the results in real time.