GNOME Announces Community Engagement Challenge Offering up to $65,000 in Rewards

It’s always good to see several competitions or challenges trying to promote Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) more than ever.

In a recent effort by GNOME with the help of Endless, they announced the inaugural GNOME Community Engagement Challenge.

This Community Challenge is a part of their original announcement of coding education challenge for which GNOME was granted $500,000 funding by Endless last year.

The three-phase challenge aims to attract new developers to engage with FOSS and potentially create new/unique solutions that would gain more traction from the next-gen coders.

The challenge will involve up to $65,000 in cash prizes. Sounds exciting, right? Let’s take a look at some of the details involved in the challenge.

Why The GNOME Community Engagement Challenge?

In their official press release, they mentioned their primary motive for the challenge:

“Through the Challenge we hope to reach a diverse audience, to encourage beginning coders to get involved with the FOSS community to help ensure that free software is available long into the future,” said Neil McGovern, GNOME Foundation Executive Director. “What better way to do that than to reach out to the community itself to come up with creative ways to inspire the next generation?”

As Neil mentioned above, it’s definitely a good idea to reach out to more people (community) to look for creative ways to promote and work on FOSS projects that will leave a significant impact on the open-source community.

And, rewarding for the ideas in the form of a challenge will easily get the attention needed.

Here’s How The Community Challenge Works

To quote the official announcement:

The Challenge will ask entrants to devise creative ways to promote open-source software to coders typically in high school and college. How a submission will achieve this goal has deliberately been left open-ended to encourage unique, novel approaches.

So, there’s no particular constraint for the type of ideas or projects you can propose and submit. But, it would be wise to read the usual terms and conditions to know about the submission rules, eligibility, requirements, prize details, and more.

Here are the key information about the three phases of the challenge as per the announcement:

• The first phase of the Challenge asks entrants to submit a written proposal for their concept no later than July 1, 2020. Twenty entries will be chosen to move to the next round and receive $1000 each.
• The second phase of the Challenge will require proof of concept, with four entries receiving $5000 and moving onto the final round.
• The final round will call for a deliverable end product, with the winner receiving $15,000 and the second place finisher receiving $10,000.

They plan to announce the winner of the challenge in the spring of 2021.

You can take a look at their challenge FAQ and the official webpage for more details before starting to submit your entry on April 9th. The last date of submission is July 1, 2020.

Head to their website to get started and explore more about the challenge.

GNOME Community Engagement Challenge

Wrapping Up

I think this is a perfect opportunity for developers to get started with FOSS projects that will end up rewarding them with a good amount of money and help the community at the same time.

What do you think about the community engagement challenge by GNOME? Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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