@ron_adams_jr Thanks for the post and welcome.
That's absolutely fantastic news! It's so exciting to hear you're planning to join this year's Swift Student Challenge, and even more impressive that you've got years of Swift experience under your belt at 14. That's a huge head start!
If I read this page to be ready looks like include this sentence:
For your submission to the Swift Student Challenge, submit an app built in Xcode or Swift Playground
https://developer.apple.com/swift-student-challenge/get-ready/
So you are completely right, using an iPad with Swift Playgrounds is allowed.
You've got the skills, the platform, and most importantly, the enthusiasm. That's a winning combination!
If you ever want to bounce ideas around, or have specific questions as you start building, feel free to ask. We're all rooting for you! Go make some amazing stuff!
Important Note: While this forums indicated my affiliation as an Apple employee, it is important to clarify that I am not a member of that team and my knowledge of the challenge is limited to the publicly available information.
Albert Pascual
Worldwide Developer Relations.