This year, we broke our record again with over 735 students presenting 194 innovative and impactful projects at the 2022 Emoti-Con NYC Youth Digital Media and Tech Challenge.

80+ judges from technology and media organizations evaluated each submission to identify 30 amazing finalists, and 5 winners. Students and community members voted to select a "Crowd Favorite" winner.

Watch the Award Ceremony and Keynote

🏆Best Pitch🏆

This award goes to a project that displays superior design documentation, storytelling, and project demonstration.

🏆Winner: “Moodify” by Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ IS 75 Frank D. Paulo

Moodify is app that supports the mental health needs of the population by helping users relax through a variety of features.

Finalists:

• “A.C.E Mobile” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ Academy for Conservation and the Environment
• “Clickmate” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ MS 88
• “Schenu” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ JHS 185 Edward Bleeker
• “Titan Education” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ College Point Collaborative
• “Wolf Guard” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ Vista Academy

🏆Most Social Impact🏆

This award goes to a project that makes meaningful change within a local or global community.

🏆Winner: “EAquitas” from the New-York Historical Society

EAquitas is a participatory action website centered around the issue of public school funding in NYC—specifically the inequities that persist in the current funding formula, "Fair Student Funding".

Finalists:

• “A.A.D.” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ IS 171 Abraham Lincoln
• “Better Bots” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ IS 27 Anning S. Prall
• “MTA Volunteer Resource” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ Brooklyn School for Music and Theatre
• “Sunshine Space” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ MS 88
• “Survey Spot” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ Academy for Conservation and the Environment

🏆Most Innovative🏆

This award goes to a project that combines creativity, ingenuity, and forward-thinking design or production.

🏆Winner: “The DEPI App” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ Bedford Academy High School

The DEPI App is a mental health app inspired by the lack of adequate and focused mental healthcare for people of color that "helps guide you through the hard and good parts of life".

Finalists:

• “De-escalation” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ PS/MS 161
• “EcoNome” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ New Dorp High School
• “Seasons” from STEM From Dance
• “StopBullying” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ IS 75 Frank D. Paulo
• “Trailblazers Throughout History” from Thomas A. Edison CTE High School

🏆Most Entertaining🏆

This award goes to a project that engages users in playful or artistic ways.

🏆Winner: “Sugar Coated: The Truth About Eating Disorders” from the Educational Video Center

"Sugar Coated" is a documentary that shines a spotlight on how mental health issues were exasperated during the pandemic and shows how they are directly connected to eating disorders within our communities.

Finalists:

• “Fitness with Sugar the Dog” from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ IS 7 Elias Bernstein
• “Internet Quilt” from Beam Center
• “MentaHelp” from CS4ALL NYC @ JHS 217 Robert A. Van Wyck
• “Ocean Pollution Cleanup” from Thomas A. Edison CTE High School
• “Palette of Creativity” from Thomas A. Edison CTE High School
  

🏆Point of View🏆

This award goes to a project that reframes issues, interactions, or experiences in a way that enlightens the audience.

🏆 Winner: “Frontiers” From Thomas A. Edison CTE High School

Frontiers is a website and app that allows users to learn and share ideas about gender stereotypes seen in entertainment. Users will be able to publish their own clips and ideas that can be used in children's movies.

Finalists:

• “Battle in The Subway” from Thomas A. Edison CTE High School
• “Bias Chat” from Mouse Design League (Lab)
• “FAITH” from the Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ MS 88
• “Qué Lo Qué South Bronx?” from the Center for Urban Pedagogy
• “SQUAD” from the Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ MS 301

🏆Crowd Favorite🏆

Over 1400 students and community members selected their top 3 favorite projects. This project received more votes than any other!

🏆 Winner: “IS 7 Elite” From Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ IS 7 Elias Bernstein

IS 7 Elite is a sustainable academic app that helps students stay organized and keep track of their work while replacing paper-based school-wide systems.

Thank You and Congratulations!

👏Thank you to the 735 students who produced and presented creative, playful, powerful, and impactful work for Emoti-Con.

👏 Thank you to the teachers, afterschool facilitators, parents and mentors who supported and encouraged them through this process.

👏Thank you to our 80+ judges for leaving over 700 thoughtful, supportive, and constructive reviews for student teams.

Emoti-Con 2022 Supporters

We'd like to thank our supporters at Best Buy, the Pinkerton Foundation, the Simons Foundation, and the NYC DOE's Department of Instructional and Information Technology (DIIT). Their support demonstrates a commitment to growing design-thinking and innovation skills among youth and educators citywide.

The Emoti-Con Steering Committee

The event has been developed through a unique collaboration between youth designers, an alumni committee, and NYC youth-serving organizations from the Hive NYC Learning Network who form the Emoti-Con Steering Committee: Code Nation, DreamYard, Global Kids, Mouse, the New York Public Library, and Parsons School of Design.

More about Emoti-Con: https://emoticon.mouse.org