2025 Swift Student Challenge winners

Apple recently spotlighted four young developers among the 350 global winners of its 2025 Swift Student Challenge, an initiative that empowers students to explore the power of coding through creative app playgrounds. Representing the next generation of innovation and driven by personal experiences and local challenges, the selected Distinguished Winners - Taiki Hamamoto, Marina Lee, Luciana Ortiz Nolasco, and Nahom Worku - exemplify how technology can inspire global impact.

Apple Celebrates the 2025 Swift Student Challenge winners

Each year, the Swift Student Challenge invites students from around the world to create original app playgrounds using Apple’s intuitive Swift programming language. The 2025 challenge drew winners from 38 countries and regions, showcasing global perspectives and diverse applications of Apple technologies.

“We’re always inspired by the talent and perspective young developers bring to the Swift Student Challenge,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations. “This year’s winners show exceptional skill in transforming meaningful ideas into app playgrounds that are innovative, impactful, and thoughtfully built — and we’re excited to support their journey as they continue building apps that will help shape the future.”

Fifty Distinguished Winners have been invited to Apple Park to participate in a three-day immersive experience during the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where they will attend the June 9 Keynote, engage with Apple engineers, and participate in hands-on labs.

Preserving Cultural Heritage: Taiki Hamamoto

Japanese developer Taiki Hamamoto, 22, was inspired to preserve the traditional Japanese card game Hanafuda through his app playground, Hanafuda Tactics. A graduate of the Prefectural University of Kumamoto, Hamamoto’s project seeks to introduce the centuries-old game to a new generation via smartphones. The app uses SwiftUI’s DragGesture to provide dynamic gameplay and is being adapted for Apple Vision Pro.

“Very few people in my generation know how to play Hanafuda,” Hamamoto noted. “I want to preserve the game for generations to come and share the beauty of Japanese culture with the world.”

Emergency Preparedness: Marina Lee

Marina Lee, 21, a computer science student at the University of Southern California, developed EvacuMate, an app playground that provides organizational support during natural disasters. After her grandmother received a wildfire evacuation alert in Los Angeles, Lee was inspired to build a tool that offers checklists, document uploads, and emergency contact integration.

EvacuMate aims to be accessible to all users, including non-English speakers. Lee plans to add multilingual support and continues to advocate for inclusive design through her work with organizations like Citro Tech and USC Women in Engineering.

Astronomy Accessibility: Luciana Ortiz Nolasco

Fifteen-year-old Luciana Ortiz Nolasco of Nuevo León, Mexico, created BreakDownCosmic, a virtual hub for astronomy enthusiasts. With features like event tracking, mission-based medals, and a chat function, the app encourages users to explore the universe together.

Ortiz Nolasco, who began stargazing at age 11, learned Swift to bring her vision to life. She aims to launch BreakDownCosmic on the App Store and make astronomy more accessible worldwide. “The universe is our home,” she said, “and everybody should be able to get to know it.”

Expanding Educational Access: Nahom Worku

Canadian-Ethiopian student Nahom Worku, 21, developed AccessEd, a learning platform that functions with or without internet connectivity. Motivated by his experiences in Ethiopia and a project at York University, where he is a senior, Worku incorporated Apple’s Core ML and Natural Language frameworks to recommend courses and generate flashcards from users’ handwritten notes.

AccessEd also includes task management features designed for students juggling responsibilities. “I hope my app inspires others to explore how modern technologies can make education more engaging and effective,” Worku said.

Apple continues to champion student innovation through the Swift Student Challenge, which has helped launch thousands of careers over the past five years. The company remains committed to supporting developers, creators, and entrepreneurs around the world.