Meet the 2024 Meet and Code Awards Finalists

This year’s Meet and Code Awards will recognize events hosted by non-profit organizations (NPOs) that have made digital education accessible to children from all backgrounds.

#DigitalSkills4All #EmpoweringYouth #Coding
23.01.2025

As 2025 kicks off, we’re excited to honor the outstanding Meet and Code events of 2024!

This year’s Meet and Code Awards will recognize events hosted by non-profit organizations (NPOs) that have made digital education accessible to children from all backgrounds. It also aims to inspire even more NPOs to host impactful events in the coming year.

The awards celebrate the creativity and innovation shown by NPOs through three inspiring categories: Girls Do IT!, empowering girls to explore technology and bridge the gender gap in STEM; Diversity, promoting inclusivity and ensuring digital education reaches underrepresented communities; and Code for the Planet, spotlighting initiatives that use technology to tackle environmental challenges and drive sustainable solutions.

After a rigorous judging process by the Amazon and Partner jury, which evaluated 95 entries and narrowed the nominations down to nine events, the Meet and Code Awards jury will now determine the winners in each of the three categories

As we approach the 2024 Meet and Code Awards ceremony on February 11, let’s take a moment to spotlight our categories and nominees:

Girls Do IT!:
This category celebrates initiatives that inspire and empower girls to explore the world of technology.

GirlsCanCode! (Ireland): GirlsCanCode! introduced girls aged 8–13 to the creative side of technology. Participants designed unique stories on paper and brought them to life using Scratch, a child-friendly coding language. They also learned textile coding with Turtlestitch, creating personalized patterns stitched by a sewing machine—an experience they could take home as a memorable keepsake.

GirlPower - Robotic Rope Pulling (Poland): Girls aged 11–15 explored STEM by building robots and experimenting with forces, gears, and structural elements to improve their BaseBots' rope-pulling abilities. This hands-on experience encouraged curiosity and critical thinking.

4Girlz (Belgium): Now in its 9th year, this event connected young women with IT professionals, showcasing how they too can thrive in STEM fields. Participants worked with technologies like Scratch, Python, micro:bit, and LEGO Spike while gaining access to local CoderDojo clubs, ensuring lasting engagement with coding.

Diversity:

Game Jam. Level Up Against Discrimination (Germany): Participants worked in teams to design video games addressing social issues like discrimination and exclusion, fostering collaboration and creativity while learning valuable technical skills.

Moving Squares (Austria): Beginners brought animations to life by programming basic shapes and setting them in motion with random parameters, making coding both accessible and fun.

Meet and Code (France): Aimed at young people with mental health challenges, this event used coding exercises and project-based learning to create an encouraging, pressure-free environment where participants developed interactive web pages and simple video games.

Code for the Planet:

Microbit and Environment in the Geopark of Granada: Programming for a Green Future (Spain): Over four sessions, participants used the micro:bit board to create tech solutions for environmental issues, such as an environmental thermometer and a humidity detector.

My ECO-Future City (Italy): Combining urban planning, coding, and ecological awareness, this event encouraged participants to design sustainable future cities through both digital modelling and hands-on activities.

UN-BEE-LIEVABLE (Romania): Focusing on the critical role of bees, participants aged 9–11 programmed BeeBot robots and Scratch activities to simulate pollination, blending ecological education with technical skills.

We commend the remarkable efforts of these event organizers in driving impactful change through digital education. Best of luck to all our incredible finalists! Stay tuned to find out who the winners are of each category, which will be announced right after the ceremony.

To learn more, follow the link: https://www.meet-and-code.org/gb/en/award. For updates, follow our social pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and subscribe to our newsletter.