Spring 2025 Collaborative Coding Challenge
Welcome to the Spring 2025 Collaborative Coding Challenge
The Collaborative Coding Challenge hosted by Simpler.Grants.gov starts on Monday, March 10th! Make sure you don’t miss out on it. This will be a great chance to collaborate with developers, subject matter experts, product managers, and designers from around the country. Winners will be chosen by community favorite voting among all participants, so start planning how you’ll make your submission stand out.
Who Should Participate?
Software Developers – Building functional prototypes or MVPs
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) – Managers, analysts in state/local government who search and apply for federal grants
Product Managers & Designers – Helping shape user experience and project direction
Non-Technical Contributors – Brainstorming, planning, project management, etc.
Whether you have extensive coding experience or simply a passion for problem-solving, your insights will help shape the next generation of federal grants solutions.
If you are interested and have not already, please sign up here to participate.
Goal
Develop simple projects using the Search & Opportunities API that showcase innovative or creative ways that could improve the federal grantseeking experience.
Submissions
These must be added to this Google Drive folder by midnight EST on March 31st 2025. All submissions must contain the following critera to be accepted.
A document or slideshow in a readable format (.docx, .rtf, .txt, .pdf, etc) which contains:
Team / Project Name
Names of all contributors
Link to a code repository that can be accessed by the public (open source)
A short description of the goals of the project
A short demonstration of the project in action.
Optional Submission Template Link
Prize Pool
A prize pool will be awarded to winners at the conclusion of the event. Awards will be decided by community favorite voting from all participants. Prize money must be divided up equally among all members of the winning team.
Over $4,000 total
1st Place: $1,500
2nd Place: $1,000
3rd Place: $500
Top 10 Proposals (beyond 1st–3rd): $150 each
Event Schedule
Submissions open on March 10, 2025, and remain open for 3 weeks. We’ll kick off with an optional virtual meeting on March 10th at 3 PM EST.
Kickoff Meeting
Monday, March 10th at 3 PM EST
Agenda: Welcome, overview of challenge rules, networking, team formation
Weekly Zoom Workshops
March 14th @ 2 PM EST
Topics: How to request an API key, setting up your development environment, live Q&A with mentors
March 19th @ 8 PM EST
Topics: Ongoing project support, advanced mentor Q&A, troubleshooting tips
March 22nd @ 5 PM EST
Topics: Finalizing project structure, best practices for code submissions, last-minute questions
Awards Ceremony
April 4th @ 4PM EST
We will announce winners, celebrate participants and discuss next steps for successful projects.
All virtual sessions and breakout rooms will be hosted on Zoom. We encourage you to have Zoom installed and set up prior to the event.
Code of Conduct
Our events foster a collaborative, creative community for all participants and government partners. Please adhere to the following guidelines:
Foster an environment that encourages creativity and empowers teammates to bring their best selves.
Encourage respectful questioning, active listening, and openness to ideas.
Always assume positive intent in interactions.
Consider the global and local impact of your ideas.
Ensure a harassment-free space that encourages free speech.
Repositories and Resources
Simpler Grants.gov Repository: GitHub
Simpler Grants.gov: Visit the Site
Developer Documentation: View Developer Docs
API
Built with Flask (Python), containerized with Docker.
API Setup: API Development Guide
API Endpoints (Swagger): API Docs
Need an API Key? Reach out to us directly.
Last updated
Was this helpful?