More than 500 students will present their mobile solutions at the final of the mSchools contest

• Participation by students in the 2017 mSchools Student Awards was up 60% compared to the previous edition
• The contestants are the finalists from among the over 36,000 students who participated in mSchools, and will compete in 3 categories: App Education, Mobile History Map and Scratch Challenge
• The App Education and Scratch Challenge winners will participate in the third edition of the mSchools TechCamp in July
• The contest is part of the mSchools programme, the Mobile World Capital Barcelona mEducation initiative carried out in collaboration with the Regional Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Hall and GSMA

June 1, 2017

On Saturday, June 10 the fourth edition of the mSchools Student Awards will be held, the ceremony that recognises the work of students who have participated in the mSchools programme and its various initiatives over the course of the school year. The contest, supported by Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) in collaboration with the Regional Government of Catalonia, the Barcelona City Hall and GSMA, will honour mobile solutions in three categories: App Education, Mobile History Map (MHM) and Scratch Challenge, carried out by primary, secondary, senior school and vocational training centres throughout Catalonia.

In the App Education category, the participants will present at the exhibition area the app designs and prototypes they worked on throughout the school year. The finalist teams will show their creations to a panel of professionals, and share their projects on a stage dedicated exclusively to pitching sessions. Winners will be selected in four categories: Sustainable Communities; Inclusion, Equity and Accessible Education; Businesses and Connected Services; and Artistic/Cultural Creation.

Mobile History Map (MHM), another of the contest’s categories, is an educational tool that makes it possible to geotag and work on contents of interest near schools. Primary and secondary students will present their projects developed during the course, and will compete in two different challenges: work on the El lloc dels fets (The site of the event) category, and that of Elements patrimonials emblematics (Emblematic heritage elements).

The first MHM challenge is based on creating geolocated content focusing on historical events related to specific sites in Catalonia. Some of the 13 sites studied as part of the challenge are: Sant Pere de Rodes, the Tarragona Amphitheatre, Castell de Miravet and Sant Cugat del Vallès. The second challenge’s MHM projects focused on geotagging emblematic heritage elements in Catalonia, to relive 20^th-century memories and experiences.

For the first time, this year the contest has added a recognition of projects developed by upper-level primary students who, using the Scratch free programming language, created interactive stories, simulations, games and animations in accord with the theme “Travel.” The Student Awards’ finalist groups will have an hour and a half to meet a challenge during the competition, and a panel will decide the winning groups, on the spot.

The winners in the App Education category will have the opportunity to participate in the third edition of the mSchools TechCamp. At this programme students enjoy a complete immersion in the world of technology and application design, combined with other leisure activities. The MHM winners will be awarded a 360-degree camera and a video production course, while those from the Scratch Challenge will participate in the mSchools TechCamp.

The awards ceremony will be hosted by John Hoffman, CEO and director of GSMA, Ltd.; Meritxell Ruiz, Minister of Education for the Regional Government of Catalonia, and Alex Valls, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona.