From an esteemed group of 350 total winners, we’ll name 50 Distinguished Winners whose work is truly exceptional and invite them to join us — in person — for three inspiring days at Apple in Cupertino, where they’ll gain invaluable insights from Apple experts and engineers, connect with their peers, and enjoy a host of unforgettable experiences. Travel and lodging included.
AJ Nettles (USA)
Distinguished Winner AJ Nettles says his summer trip to Cupertino during WWDC24 was an exhilarating three days of activity and community. “You know when you come back from an amusement park, and you’re all full of energy?” he says. “That’s what it felt like.”
The Alabama native created his security-minded app CryptOh to encourage people to think more about the strength of their passwords, no matter what software or device they happen to be using. “If the only thing you get out of CryptOh is, ‘I should use a password manager,’ even if you never use CryptOh again, that’s a win,” he says.
During his three days in Cupertino, Nettles got the chance to watch the Keynote live at Apple Park, show off his work to Apple executives, and become a greater part of the developer community. “I already had a fire burning,” he says, “but visiting Apple Park threw gasoline on that fire. I think everybody has a little bit of imposter syndrome, and this was really the first time I thought, ‘You know what, I made it.’ And now I’m ready to keep pushing.”
Keitaro Kawahara (Japan)
For this year’s Challenge, Distinguished Winner Keitaro Kawahara submitted an app called PuzzlePix that automatically generates puzzles from a person’s photos. “I got the idea from watching my younger sister take out an old puzzle and play with it,” says Kawahara. “And players can adjust the difficulty, which makes it suitable for a wide range of ages.” His primary playtester? That same sister.
Kawahara, an economics student at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, says his time at Apple was an incredible experience. “I heard from engineers involved in Apple Vision Pro. I participated in an in-person design lab. And I spoke with members of the Metal engineering team,” he says. “It was fascinating to hear firsthand how people who have such a global impact create their products. I was particularly struck by the idea that software engineering is a team sport, where multiple discussions and failures are crucial to success. I want to carry that message with me and use it to become a better engineer.”
Kawahara came home with new connections as well. “Beyond the technical knowledge I gained about engineering, design, and leadership, I got to meet so many amazing people. The chance to form connections with people from around the world was incredible.”
Ruoshan Li (China)
Three years ago, Distinguished Winner Ruoshan Li joined an iOS club at her school in China to begin learning coding and design. “It’s not always easy for me,” she says. “I’m not a computer science major; I’m studying social work. So I’ve learned a lot of new skills.”
She’s learned them fast. Li’s Challenge submission, Deep Blue Tangram, is an ocean-based puzzle game that uses augmented reality and is geared toward young children. The idea was driven both by her desire to “help the disadvantaged using the power of technology” and something a little closer to home. “I have a big family with a lot of nephews and nieces in kindergarten and elementary school,” she says. “They all play mobile games, so I wanted to build something that would be helpful for their development.”
In her first visit to Apple Park, she met directly with Apple engineers, learned about submitting her game to the App Store, and even experienced something of a full-circle moment. “Every year, the iOS club at our school watches the Keynote, even though it’s very late here in China. It’s hard to describe the feeling of being there in person; I had to make myself calm down and dive into all the updates.”
Vildan Kocabas (Germany)
Distinguished Winner Vildan Kocabas fit a trip to California into a calendar that already included finishing medical school in her native Germany. “I had to work out the travel a little,” she laughs, “but I wouldn’t have missed WWDC for the world.”
Kocabas was recognized for MyCycle, an app she designed and built in her “down time” from med school. “You have a little more time in your last year,” she says, with a smile. MyCycle is a period tracker that doubles as an educational resource for “all women, regardless of their background or education,” she says. “The app explains the data. It’ll say, ‘OK, your estrogen’s high. Now here’s what that means.’”
At Apple Park, Kocabas got a chance to meet software engineers from the Health team and present to a group of UI/UX designers, for whom she had a request. “I asked them for really honest thoughts on my UI,” she says. She needn’t have worried: Her work easily won over the designers, who lauded the app’s visuals — Kocabas contributed all of the app’s illustrations — and ease of use. “Visiting WWDC gave me a glimpse of what could be possible at the intersection of medicine and technology, and made me realize how much more I could do in this field,” she says.
