On Saturday, May 9, hundreds of teens, educators and tech professionals from all five boroughs will gather at the New York Public Library’s Bartos Forum for the 12th annual Emoti-Con! NYC Youth Media & Technology Challenge. During this event, student design teams will showcase their own apps, games, podcasts, videos, physical computing prototypes, social justice campaigns, assistive tech, and digital art/performances while engaging with and getting feedback from peers and professionals.

Emoti-Con will open registration for project teams in early March. Follow the event on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates, or email Emoticon@mouse.org with questions.

Meet this year’s Keynote Speaker

We are excited to announce that Errol King, a Creative Technologist at Google, will be our Keynote Speaker. Like many of the students at Emoti-Con, Errol was born and raised in the Bronx, NY. A self taught creative technologist, game designer and social entrepreneur, his career started in communications and tech strategy for social justice movements.

Inspired by maker culture, Errol co-founded Hidden Level Games, an indie gaming studio focused on transforming players into creators. He is also the co-author of CodePop, a tweet-sized game programming language. Using this platform he has toured the world teaching design thinking and game programming to youth.

Errol was named a Tech Week Top 100 most influential people in New York for 2014. He is now at Google working on a team focused on cultivating the next generation of awe-inspiring leaders in computer science from Black and Latino communities, including his work with the Code Next program.

Get Involved: Apply to be a judge

The Emoti-Con Steering Committee, including a team of youth program alumni who vet all candidates, are seeking 30 volunteer judges to share career experiences with and give design feedback to our student design teams.

Individuals from diverse backgrounds and identities are encouraged to apply. Judges should have some experience in applied media and technology and be available to attend Emoti-Con from 12:00 - 4:30pm on Saturday, May 9.

Nominate yourself or a friend here: www.emoti-con.org/judges

Become a Sponsor: Support Diversity & Inclusion in the Tech Sector

By sponsoring Emoti-Con, you can help connect the next generation of tech innovators to college and career pathways. Since our first event, Emoti-Con has celebrated over 1200 teen designers, 89% of whom identify as students of color, from over 100 informal and formal youth-serving learning institutions who believe in digital innovation as a tool for positive change in the world around them.

Reach out to Emoticon@mouse.org for sponsorship options.