The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Apps Challenge 2023 is open for interested individuals to become its local lead. The successful candidate will be instrumental in organising local in-person or virtual space apps events for a specific city or town and increasing awareness of the NASA Space Apps Challenge slated between 7 – 8 October 2023.
Benefits
- Serve as a local lead alongside NASA and the space apps global organising team to develop the world’s largest annual global hackathon, with participants and supporting teammates in 160+ countries;
- Champion space apps in your local community, recruiting local coders, scientists, students, artists, storytellers, designers, engineers, data experts and others who may be interested in participating in the space apps event;
- Immerse yourself and serve as a thought leader in your city’s space, tech, innovation, and creative communities;
- Support noteworthy participants in their hackathon journeys; and
- Nominate top projects for judging at the global level, with global nominees, global finalists, and global winners recognised by NASA.
Responsibilities
- Coordinate local event logistics: Local leads are responsible for providing, arranging and funding the logistics for their local event from their resources, including venue, food, supplies, swag and prizes, as they may choose at their discretion. Local Leads are also responsible for considering accessibility and connectivity logistics;
- Recruit supporting teammates – Each local lead is responsible for arranging the needed personnel to run their local event;
- Recruit participants from their community to join the local event;
- Follow NASA International Space Apps Challenge branding guidelines;
- Support participants through their entire hackathon journey and encourage project submission;
- Recruit local Judges and complete local judging ;
- Recruit local collaborators (optional but encouraged): Each Local Lead is responsible for their collaborator outreach efforts.
Criteria
- There is no approved returning local lead in the city you are applying for. If there is already a returning local lead, the application will not be approved;
- Clear communication of the ability to run/host a NASA Space Apps local event;
- Clear communication of plans/initial ideas on how to support and recruit participants;
- Clear communication of plans/initial ideas on how to source/recruit supporting teammates, local collaborators, and local judges; and
- Clear communication on willingness to commit time to organise an event, lead a support team, and support participants.
Timeline
Applications are subject to screening and will be reviewed and approved or denied monthly. Application notices can be expected as follows, but this timeline is subject to change without notice:
- Applicants applying by March 15 may receive notice as early as 31 March 2023;
- Applicants applying by April 15 may receive notice as early as 30 April 2023;
- Applicants applying by May 15 may receive notice as early as 31 May 2023;
- Applicants applying by June 15 may receive notice as early as 30 June 2023;
Deadline
While successful applications may be approved by the notification dates listed, the overall application deadline is June 15, 2023. However, do not wait until the deadline or delay the application, as another qualified applicant may be approved in your location. Typically, only one local event is approved per city.
Additional Note
- Prior participation as a space apps local lead does not guarantee selection as a 2023 local lead.
- The Global Organising Team reviews local lead applications on a first-come, first-serve basis. Each application is evaluated against the following criteria.
How to Apply
Application is open to all interested individuals. To apply, click here.
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